Looking back and moving forward
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Looking Back
Looking Back
Pray for our hearts and minds to be open to what the Holy Spirit has for us this morning.
Just 3 short weeks ago we celebrated our 100 year anniversary, last fall pastor Joshua left us as our senior pastor, just a little over a month ago pastor Dick left us as our interim pastor, last week we said good bye to the Behrend’s family.
If we were to simply focus on what has changed or what has happened in the past year we might get discouraged. But there was a time in the Bible that I would like to look at with you this morning, a time that could have, looking at the surface been very discouraging.
As we look at the 1st chapter of Acts, what had just transpired? The disciples leader, Jesus, had just been betrayed by one of their own, and then he had been put on trial, then beaten close to the point of death, then He was crucified and buried. Peter had just denied that he even knew Jesus and then was reminded of the words he had spoken just hours before, that he would never betray Jesus, even to the point of death. So if we had been there in their shoes, it would have been pretty easy to be very discouraged and wondering if they had all made a huge mistake and what in the world were they going to do now.
Jesus had been with them teaching them for a time, but now He was dead.
But as the saying goes, It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming! On that Sunday morning when Mary and the other women told the disciples what they had found, or maybe more accurate, not found at the grave, they were at the very least skeptical, and most likely thought the women were seeing things. Jesus had foretold His resurrection but they had not grasp what He was telling them. Sunday has come! He is no longer in the grave, we serve a risen savior. He wanted that to be clear to them and to us, the Bible brings that truth out.
3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
At that point He answered many of their questions and then he told them an important event was going to happen.
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Those are Jesus’ last words to those he was with before He ascended into heaven. What was the significance of those words? It wasn’t a suggestion it was a statement from the mouth of our risen savior.
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
Acts Acts 1: We Are Witnesses
“When we’re trusting Jesus Christ as Lord as well as Saviour, He enables us to live and speak as faithful witnesses.”
Paul E. Little
I’ll be sharing some from Acts by Kenneth Gangel
A Chinese farmer, after having cataracts removed from his eyes, made his way from the Christian compound to the far interior of China. Only a few days elapsed, however, before the missionary doctor looked out his bamboo window and noticed the formerly blind man holding the front end of a long rope. In a single file and holding to the rope behind him came several blind Chinese whom the farmer had told about his operation. They all knew the farmer had been blind, but now he could see. He told them of the doctor who had cured him; naturally, all these other blind people wanted to meet the doctor who cured the blind man.The cured man could not explain the physiology of the eye or the technique of the operation. He could tell others he had been blind, the doctor had operated on him, and now he could see. That was all the others needed to hear. They came to the doctor.So it is in our Christian lives. We need not all be trained theologians. We need not understand all the intricacies of God’s mysteries, nor be perfect examples of flawless Christian living. We can all tell everyone what Christ has done for us. We may not all be teachers. We may not all be like Mother Teresa. We can all be witnesses. That is the point of the Book of Acts, a written witness, a faithful telling of the work of God in the first days of Christianity and the church.
Acts I. Introduction: The Power of a Witness
When we grasp the significance of new life in Christ and the internal power of his resurrection through the Holy Spirit, we can live out the words of a modern chorus, “Get all excited and tell everybody” that Jesus Christ the Son of God lives today in the lives of his people even as he did back in the days of the New Testament.
Let’s look at those words.
Get all excited
Go tell everybody that
Jesus Christ is King
I said, Get all excited
Go tell everybody that
Jesus Christ is King
Won't you get all excited
Go tell everybody that
Jesus Christ is King
Jesus Christ is still
The King of kings
Have we lost that excitement? Do you remember when you first accepted Jesus as your savior and the excitement that brought, of wanting to share what you just received?
Back to verse 8,
Acts 1:8 (ESV)
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Do we sometimes think that we have to win others to Jesus? This verse points out that first the Holy Spirit comes with His power, not our power and then we will be witnesses, just like the Chinese man who received his sight, he told others, he shared his story, he shared what had happened personally to himself. Do we tell others about what the Lord is doing in and through us? That is the command that Jesus gave just before He ascended and is still valid today. A witness simply tells what they have seen, they don’t make up what they think happened, but they only relay what they saw and experienced themselves. Their witness is not 2nd hand but what they actually experienced, as we share what we have experienced with Jesus, we give others the opportunity to experience it first hand for themselves.
10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
These verses bring into context that we can’t just stand gazing at Jesus, but I think it points to action, we have a responsibility to be witnesses about Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers to all who will receive it.
11 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
It’s not a one time event and we are set for life, we must continually seek Him, I like to think of it like David Jones share with us, we are like a leaking cup that needs to be continually filled.
We are facing a need for leaders in our fall ministries and our pool of those available continues to grow smaller. If we were bringing new believers into our church, do you think maybe it would be easier to fill those needs? As we look at the early church, what did they do first after Jesus’ ascension?
14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
Prayer is the first and most important thing we must do. They met corporately and joined together in prayer, could that be part of the reason we don’t see God working as much in our midst as we would like? Are we serious about coming together to pray?
The apostles were ordinary people just like you and me, the difference being from other people was that they had spent time with Jesus, we need to make sure we do the same.
Lest we allow past failures or shortcomings in our attempts to tell others about Jesus to keep us from doing it now, all we have to do is look back just a few weeks before this and look at Peter.
As we look back, Jesus was serving the Lord’s supper, which we will be partaking of later in the service.
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”
Peter at that point was relying upon his own strength, he was certain that he would not deny Christ. But as Jesus points out here, Satan will do all he can to defeat us just as he did Peter.
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
But the story doesn’t end there for Peter, unlike Judas who did not repent but instead killed himself, Peter repents and Jesus uses him mightily in the building of the early church. So even when we fail, when we repent and seek Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and then use us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Samuel Coleridge, a few days before his death on July 13, 1834, wrote a letter to his grandson which included this paragraph:
I have known what the enjoyments and advantages of this life are, and the refined pleasures which learning and intellectual power can bestow upon us; and with all the experience that more than three score years can give, I, now, on the eve of my departure, declare to you that health is a great blessing; competence a great blessing; and a great blessing it is to have kind, loving, and faithful friends and relatives; but that the greatest of all blessings is to be indeed a Christian.… And I, on the very brink of the grave, solemnly bear witness to you that the Almighty Redeemer, most gracious in his promises to them who truly seek him, is faithful to perform what he has promised.
Do we bear witness of what Christ is doing in our lives to others? Do we have something to attest to?
Acts IV. Life Application: Tied to the Stake
Dr. W. A. Criswell, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, tells a story about a Louisiana farmer who caught a wild duck and tied it to a stake by his pond. Throughout the summer the duck seemed content. With plenty to eat he showed no desire to wander beyond the boundaries of his newly confined territory.
Then fall came, and wild ducks began migrating to the marshes. As they flew over the farmer’s pond and called, the domestic ducks paid no attention whatsoever. They had no interest in flying off to the marshes; the pond was their home. Not so with the wild mallard. Every time the ducks flew over the pond, he would strain at the cord which tied him to his alien home. Finally, he broke the cord and rose upward to join his own kind and fly off to the marshes.
This story reminds us that the second coming holds no appeal for unbelievers. For Christians, however, the awareness of Christ’s soon return enhances enthusiasm for the mission, the witness. Not only that, but it should increase our efforts and discipline at godly living. Look at what John has to say: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2–3).
These Christians understood the huge difference between going to church and being the church. They understood the essential biblical qualifications of church leaders. They understood the absolute necessity of praying and serving together. They understood how important it was (and is) to obey the Lord even if it meant waiting at a time when they thought they should rush out and do something. They understood how the sovereignty of God transcends all human efforts, and they trusted him completely.
Acts IV. Life Application: Tied to the Stake
God makes this kind of maturity available to us through the Holy Spirit. Yes, now we are like wild ducks tied to the stake of an alien society. We look in horror at some of the things Hollywood and television feed our culture. We recoil in fear at the cruelty and violence which dominate our streets. Jesus told us this world is no friend to him nor to his people. So as we live our lives around the pond, we keep one eye on heaven. Soon that same Jesus, perhaps in the same cloud, will come just as the apostles saw him go. By his power we can break the cord and fly off with him to our eternal home.
Gangel, K. O. (1998). Acts (Vol. 5, p. 14). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
So this morning we have looked back at what God has done and the changes that have taken place. As we look forward, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, what trials may come, or what opportunities God will bring us. We don’t know when God will bring us our new pastor, we don’t know when Jesus will return, but we know He will and it could very well be soon. God’s word has not changed, His command to be His witnesses has not changed. The opportunities to share our lives and the hope we have in Christ hasn’t changed. When we pray together and encourage one another, our Heavenly Father will bring us the opportunities to share what He is doing in us, with others. We have the opportunities to reach the youth and children and families of our communities.
As we look forward, as we seek God’s guidance and leading, I’m certain that He has much for us to join with Him in doing and reaching out to the families and individuals in our communities. May we look at the early church and follow their example in reaching those around us with the hope we have in Jesus.
Also on this day we celebrate Independence day for our country. 245 years since that day in 1776. As we look around us it’s not the same country that it was in the beginning, but the people around us need the same truth of Jesus’ love for them just as they did 245 years ago. May we be a light in our communities, state, nation and around the world. May we have an urgency to pray for and then tell those around us of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
We have the answers to the worlds needs, may we be ready to share that hope with those that are seeking it.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Our heavenly Father desires that all people be saved.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Do we love our neighbor as ourselves? Let’s think about that a little. Would we be willing to give up our salvation in Jesus? If not, then if we are to love our neighbor as our self, then we would n’t want them to not have the opportunity to have what we have, a relationship with Jesus Christ.
In a moment I will have the elders come up to serve communion. After a time of silent prayer when you are ready you can come up the center isle and partake and then return to your seats. The only requirement is that you have personally accepted the Lord as savior, we don’t have to be perfect, if that were a requirement none of us would be worthy.
17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Pray for the cup and bread.
Take communion
Closing song.