Are you living your best life?
The Message • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro and Engage
Intro and Engage
Ever met Quiet guy who was amazing at something? Quiet, good at sport? Timid, can belt out a worship song - Those people that slowly grow confident | Maybe there was a big change, and you don’t know what happened? |
New sermon series: “The Message”
Remain in Acts | Look at what the disciples was preaching | What was the significance?
Week 1 of 4 | Open our hearts and pray |
**Pray**
You know those people #living my best life? As we look at the text today we will see something different in Peter | a whole different life, my question is, can we have that life?
Title: Are you living your best life?
Look at Peter Preached at Pent | Why | How that might change our life.
My Hope: You will ‘get it’. You will understand what happened to Peter, what really happened to Peter, you’ll understand why, and you’ll want that to | apply it | Transform your lives
OK where are we? Acts 2 Is where we will concentrate |
my Question; do you know who Peter is? We went through this a few weeks ago; The Great Blunderer, couldn’t get anything right - He is “That friend” | “Oh bless him” - you know those people.
Remember meeting jesus | Throw out your nets (Plural) - Peter threw ONE NET - then pulled in fish, huge | dropped to knees | Lord go away “Sinful Man” | BUT - Jesus Saw something we didn’t
He went from that, to this;
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—
Context, People around wanting to kill him | Deny Jesus | Pharisees;
Timid to Transformed | Changed Man | Not hiding in the shadows | Peter saying “LISTEN, This Jesus did MIRACLES only GOD could do HIMSELF | We know, and peter knew, that Phariees wanted to squelch this |
Peter, here is a changed man - Maybe you’re hiding in Shadows | Maybe you want to change | Maybe you want the power Peter had | What did Peter kno1?
2 things changed Peter, that we can use to change our life | Let’s talk about it.
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
1st Reason: God Raised HIM UP - Referring to resurection | First Reason; Because Jesus is ALIVE and HE kNOWS IT | Listen, he says “God Raised HIM UP” | people: It’s not possible | Peter, Boldly: Jesus could not possibly stay dead because he is GREATER than DEATH HIMSELF | ONLY reason He died, is because he PLANNED to DIE | Then what? DEATH COULD NOT HOLD HIM.
Understand the significance? We all know something about death? Buzz Kill, Big bummer, we want to avoid, stop, but we all have to deal with it;
What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
Not a fridge statement is it? Never seen this in a house? Who could defeat death? No one obviously | Then Peter sees JESUS and DEATH has lost it’s ability to terrorise.
Peter | Sees Jesus Die | Sees him alinve and Jesus says “Peace be with you” - PEACE BE WITH YOU
What’s the implication here, please get this | Peter Got this | Don’t worry about death, soul will live on |
We sing “Death where is your sting?” | The sting has Gone | Jesus defeated Death | You are covered by the Blood of Jesus | Death has lost it’s grip on YOU | Promised a LIFE that is truly LIFE | Eternity | Saved from Hell for all those that turn.
The effect was Peters boldness, but the cause was His understanding.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
fear of death wil put you in prison. but knowledge of the resurrection life means you can’t be kept down | Incredible
We need to stop seeing Jesus as a departed hero and start seeing him as a living companion.
Why don’t we see things in early church??
Because we don’t believe our life is in CHRIST. THE REALITY IS THAT MY NAME IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE. | Apostles, beated, counted all joy | jesus says “Death, that thing your worried about it, I beat it and now your life is in me”.
1st Reason is the understanding that your LIFE is in CHRIST and DEATH has been DEFEATED.
What do we do? Keep our eyes Fixed on Him | Fixed on Eternity | and have an eternal Perspective.
This life will fade away, but eternity is forever = Make choices that honour eternity.
2nd Reason - Corrosponds to a promise that Jesus said;
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 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.”
Power = Dynamis = means = “BE ABLE” | Let’s go through a few verses
And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
You might be like Peter | Gift, but low in confidence | What gives you confidence? The SPIRIT | The SPIRIT makes you ABLE | The SPIRIT can CHANGE HUMAN HEARTS
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
Story about being intellectual and bringing someone to Christ | Why don’t they get it ? (me)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Power made perfect in weakness | Content with my hardships | When weak, we are strong | Cracked vessels with light shining through | Light is GOD | Try and patch our cracks cause of pride, we lose the POWER, and we try and be STRONG IN US
What do we do?
LAY IT DOWN | The blessing of the life does not come in this life, but the hope in the life to come | stop trying to be STRONG | OWN STRENGTH | GET ON YOUR KNEES | Say | I NEED YOUR POWER | I NEED YOUR Dynamis in my LIFE
Paul recognised over and over as the weak man he was | it was the POWER of the SPIRIT that worked through HIM the ENTIRE TIME.
We are told to be LEAD by the SPIRIT.
The 2nd Reason is that PETER got hold of the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT | Lead by it | Filled by it | Relied on it
Quick Story | Old Testament
Context;
the Babylonians laid waste to Israel | Several people captive | Same time as Daniel | Destroyed their temple | Restoration seemed impossible | under teh foot of the most POWERFUL empire at the time | Poorest of the poor living in the city | How could the city of israel be restored | God spoke to a prophet called EZEKIEL |
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.
SPIRIT OF THE LORD | I mean cmon, this is weird
God then led Ezekiel around the dead bones, God said “Can they live” | Ezekiel: “Only you know” | God them demanded him to prophesy over them that they meay live.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
Word of God says the bones started to rattle | Put together | tendons joined, skin covered them | But here is the interesting thing, in this vision, these bones stood there, and said this;
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’
Even though they where alive, they weren’t really alive, they were missing something.
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. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 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 is saying, He will give them LIFE that is truly LIFE | They will know He is the Lord | and they will have the SPIRIT inside them.
The Spirit is not a wind or feeling it’s a person amd he lives inside you. We are told to be lead by the spirit, filled by the spirit.
the spirit makes us able. The bones where able to do nothing but they got the power. lets find our comfidence in god
INSPO AND CLOSE
Peter was so Bold, He knew life that was truly life, He has the spirit living inside him | Not wind, not a f1eeling but a person |
here we are; my question to you: Do you want a life that is truly life? Do you know JESUS? Who is he to you? Departed Hero, or life-long companion? Do we make decisions in light of eternity?
Peter, a bumbler, a mess, a quiet timid dude | Changed to bring 3,000 people to CHRIST in His first SERMON | Do you want to feel ALIVE?
Do you want to feel FREE? Listen When you know, Jesus is alive, when you know, The resurrection was real, when you know, your eternity is locked in, you will be different.
KNOW in all your HEART and your MIND that this life is not all there is, and ask God to fill you, and to be LEAD BY the HOLY SPIRIT.
**ALTAR CALL**
**PRAYER**