We are Witnesses

June 5th 2022

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: We are Witnesses

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Acts 3

Sermon Blurb: All followers of Jesus are called to do all they can to lead people toward salvation through Jesus. When God moves through us do, we use those moments to point people toward Jesus or ourselves? In this message, we will hear about all that and more!

Sermon:

Family Moment

Welcome back to our series called simply “The book of Acts”!

We are on a journey through the book of Acts!

If you are new, or newer to Family Church, we are so happy you are here today and I promise you that even though you are new you will not feel behind.

So let me catch you up.

Acts was written by a doctor named Luke.

The whole book is about the start of the church as we know it and it’s growth and challenges.

And at Family Church we love just preaching line by line, verse by verse, through the Bible because then it becomes less about our opinion and much more about learning God’s direction.

And that is what we are doing in this series.

We are learning about God’s direction for the church the Jesus started.

And we are learning about what that early church did and did not do…..and pondering…..how should this apply to our lives today….

PAUSE

So, we left off in Acts chapter 3. So grab your Bible and open up there.

Acts 3: 1-26

As you are getting there let me give some context to what we will read about today.

Remember the church started with 120 people.

The church has exploded SUPER fast and now is over 3,000 people!

Do NOT miss that the first church in human history was a mega-church within weeks of being formed.

And I say that because I know there are a lot of people that are against large churches, and let me just say this…..you should never be anti-big churches.

You should be passionate about growing the church by reaching the lost; which is what the early church did and why it grew so quickly.

Big is not bad; not being about God’s work is bad.

PAUSE

The early church was an EXCITING place!

This new found faith is amazing!

The leaders in the early church, or Apostles to use a churchy word, would have been hectic and full.

Just like anyone leading a growing organization!

But the leaders were VERY focused.

They were trying to meet great spiritual and physical needs in this new thing called church.

And today….two of the leaders…. Peter and John…

Two guys who often competed for Jesus’ best friend slot!

Two guys who even raced in the Bible!

Two super competitive guys….are now working NOT to build this kingdom but Jesus Kingdom…are about to do something amazing!

Something that some of you in the room are going to doubt if it really happened or if it did…. You are going to ask…..could it happen today…..

PAUSE

Ready to dive in church????

So chapter 2 Acts ends with these words,

Acts 2: 47, And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

DAILY…every day…..365 days a year…..

People were out talking about Jesus and because ALL the people were out talking about how Jesus changed their life DAILY people were coming to Jesus.

Acts 3: 1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.

We talked about this last month but let me remind you all of something.

The early church was a praying church.

The people prayed AT LEAST 3 times a day.

Like what most of you would associate with Muslims today.

Were they stop everything they are doing….. They bow down and pray toward Mecca.

That was originally a Godly thing…taken by the Muslims and applied to their religion.

Stopping what your doing….praying in a certain direction…. Multiple times a day goes WAY back to the early church and WAY back further than that to times like Shadrack, Meshack and Abendego!

And I want to make sure you ALL realize something today.

Anything can be redeemed for God!

Just because Muslims do this today and Christians stopped doing it does not mean that now we cannot because they do!

We can reclaim Godly activities for God!

PAUSE

Jesus prayed all the time to connect with the will of God the Father!

The early church prayed all the time to connect with the will of God the Father!

We should do the same today!

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading….

2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Stop there for a second and I want to explain why the “look at us!”

Back at this point in time in human history if you were crippled, or sick, or had a skin issue, eye issue, or any number of physical issues you were NOT ALLOWED to enter the Jewish temple.

This guy would have NEVER been allowed in the temple because of the way he was born.

The sad reality to his day and age.

The leaders in that day in age would NEVER had made eye contact with a person like him, and made SURE to NEVER touch a person like him.

So these new “church leaders” saying look at us…was a big deal!

They were giving him the dignity he never got from other people.

In the same way you and I are called to LOVE ALL people! Not just people who look or think like us today!

Most of us in the room have no idea what it is like to have a child with special needs.

Growing up my mom taught Special Education…so I was around kids gifted differently quite often and I was taught to not look at them as different but as gifted by God in amazing ways that I was not.

My older brothers first son has Angelman’s Syndrome and is gifted differently than most other children.

Most of you have no idea how hard it is to do what most families call “normal” with a child that is gifted differently…So can I beg you today…..

When you see a family with a child that is gifted differently SMILE at them!

Encourage them!

Give them so much Grace!

Love their child!

Encourage their child!

Look at their child with loving eyes not judgmental!

Just like the church leaders are doing here.

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…

6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

Stop there…..

Note some important and amazing things!

First…..they did NOT offer to meet the needs he thought he had.

Sometimes people are asking for the wrong things!

We are NOT called to just freely hand money to people all the time.

We are NOT called to enable people.

We are called to LEAD people toward Jesus…..

PAUSE

So, they offer this guy transformation through Jesus!

The power came from Jesus NOT them!

Jesus’ name alone transformed this guy before everyone’s eyes!

And everyone around it says in verse 9….

9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.

Everyone is blown away!

I mean how do you explain what just happened.

PAUSE

Let me ask you all a question…..

How many of you in the room have ever seen something like this happen….anyone raise your hands if so…..

OK….as I figured….

I would be willing to be that if MOST of you are honest today you would also say….I am not sure this kind of stuff still happens.

I would bet if we saw this happen today…most of us would be like verse 12….

12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

We would stare….

We would wonder how this is possible.

We would wonder if it really happened or are we imagining it.

We would wonder if we really experienced a miracle.

PAUSE

So let me share something with you.

Let me share with you the first time I saw a miracle in my life.

If I rewind back to when I was in high school.

I had a good friend whose mother had special shoes because one of her legs was 2” shorter than the other one.

One day we had a healing service at our church when this guy came in town.

I remember going as a teenager because my parents made me go.

And parents let me say…it is OK to force your kids to go to church and youth group! It is the best thing for them and one day they might just thank you.

But anyway…..I was there….and they are praying these big prayers for healing and all kinds of stuff and I was not into it AT ALL.

Honestly, I thought it was weird.

My mom’s friend goes up for prayer and then I hear all this excitement…and people saying a miracle just happened…..and her leg grew and she can walk normally…..

And 100% true story I was like…ya right…..this is fake…..there is no way….

But since I know her…..I will see the truth tomorrow….

And 100% true….I thought nothing of it.

But does anyone want to guess what I found out when I went to my friend’s house to see it was all fake…..

It was 100% true….

And as a teenager, I was like….Oh….Well, that is weird.

As a teenager, I was like…hum….Did God really heal her?

PAUSE

And yes…..God healed her!!!!

So let me say to all of your what Peter said in verse 12…..

***At EB Change to PKV for Pastor Keith Version

PAV 12 “Family Church, does this surprise you? Why do you stare at me as if by our own power or godliness we had made her leg grow?

Let’s keep reading this story to see what Peter and John do on the heels of this miracle….

Listen to what they say next.

Think about this passage from this perspective.

Imagine you are being praised by your non-Christian boss,

or non-Christian teacher,

or some non-Christian leader in your life…

Imagine the non-Christians around you see God do something CRAZY amazing through you…..

Imagine how you would respond to their praise.

And listen now to how the disciples of Jesus respond to that.

Verse 13:

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.

14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.

We are witnesses of this.

16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong.

It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

Now stop there for a second….

Let’s translate that to today….again you’re being praised by someone who thinks you are amazing and you say…

God did this through me to glorify Jesus.

But you do not believe in Jesus and you handed him over to be murdered.

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.

By faith in the name of Jesus, I was able to do this great thing.

It is Jesus’ you are seeing, not me.

PAUSE

Do you see what just happened here?

They healed a guy and then they did not take credit for what they just did!

Let me say that again to make sure it sinks in….

They healed this guy…..

They could have taken all the credit…

They could have become famous….

They could have used this to launch a business for themselves….

They took NO credit…..

PAUSE

How different is that from the world we live in?

If something great happens at work and your boss comes to praise you….Do you say, “Oh that was not me it was Jesus!”

Anyone????

If you make the game-winning shot or do great on a test do you say, “Oh that was not me it was Jesus!”

If you come up with a great business idea and you are being interviewed do you take credit or say….It was all Jesus who created me and gave me this idea and point people toward Jesus…..

PAUSE

Far too often our focus is on us, and not on Jesus!!!

Which is probably why as you thought about how you would respond it did not sound like what we just read…..

Since we don’t focus on Jesus the first things out of our mouth is nothing like what the disciples of Jesus just said……

PAUSE

But they do not stop there they go on to say what we see in verse 17:

17 Now, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that Jesus would suffer.

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”

Pause there….

Remember last week….

Peter said the exact same thing!

Repent.

Repent which means admit you were WRONG!

Repent which means admit you were WRONG and ask Jesus to forgive you!

Repent which means admit you were WRONG and ask Jesus to forgive you and CHANGE the direction of your life!

PAUSE

They call them out….

They are not afraid of offending them with truth…

Truth is truth.

And again…I know we live in a world that says the truth that offends people is not truth but hatred….

Well, that is a LIE from the pits of hell.

Truth is truth.

And God defines truth not man…

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…..verse 20….

20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

AKA Jesus will return one day as promise….

Verse 22….

22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’

24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers.

He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

That is where we will end reading today…..

Wow…..

Can you imagine saying that to a group of people that thought you were amazing?

Can you imagine saying that to anyone?

Can you imagine being that bold for Jesus with your lost friends, family, neighbors or co-workers…..

LONG PAUSE

Because that is what Peter and John just said….

They had a group of people looking at them with AWE and WONDER!

They could have used this to gain political position…

They could have used this to gain financial positions…..

They could have used this to gain leadership positions…

They could have used this to do so many things…..

But instead of making it about their gain in this world…..they made it about God.

So let me ask you this…..our main point today…..

When you are blessed in life. Do you take credit or give credit to God?

Repeat

Really….Stop….Think….

What do you really do?

When you make the sports team is it about you or God?

When you make the game winning shot…is it about you or God?

When you make first chair in band…is it about you or God?

When you get into the college you wanted is it about you or God?

When you get that first job….is it about you or God?

When you get the promotion…is it about you or God?

When you start your business…is it about you or God?

When you retired…is your life and free time about you or God?

When you give…is it about giving to what you want or God?

When you do anything…..

Is it about you and your desires….. or is it really about pointing people toward God???

PAUSE

Have any of you ever noticed something about the Pastors at our church?

If you come to me and say, Pastor, wow your message was so amazing….

I always point back toward God.

I will say…praise God… I am glad He spoke to you.

Or something like isn’t it amazing when we read God’s Word how He speaks to us.

If you tell Pastor Matt how great a worship set is…he will said the same thing.

Praise God!

I am glad he connected with you through the set.

Because it is NOT about us!

We do not preach or lead you in worship to get you to praise us!

We do it to help connect you to God!

We had a lot of people ask why we didn’t just stream Pastor Adam’s messages to Ebenezer vs preaching live….

The reason is because we do NOT want to make things about Pastor Adam!

We don’t want anyone’s head getting to big!

We want to make sure it is NOT about anyone at our church but about God!

PAUSE

If you really think about how you operate in business, at school or work….

Do you find yourself ever giving credit to God for what is going on?

And if you don’t…. hey that’s ok…. now you know an area of your life you have some work to be done!

So, strive to give God more credit until it becomes normal.

PAUSE

Write this down….and then I will show you one more thing and we will wrap this up….

Witnessing is simply sharing what you have seen or experienced.

That is all they did.

They shared what they saw.

They shared what they experienced Jesus do in their life.

And without fear they shared it with others…..

PAUSE

And let me wrap it up with this thought….

Because this is why SO many of you NEVER share your faith!

If you remember I polled our church last year on all kinds of spiritual stuff….and let me show you what you all said were the top reason why you did not share your faith….

73 of us were afraid….and I get that….

47 wanted to but didn’t know what to say.

63 said they wanted to but didn’t want to be rejected.

50 more said they wanted to but just are not ready…

That is why we preach how we preach here at Family Church.

Because we want to help all of you overcome those real fears.

And when we look at how people did it back then and today it will help us.

PAUSE

In the weeks ahead….we will all see how the early church did this.

So please keep coming back!

PAUSE

Let me ask you all one last question….to give you all some comfort today…..

How many people accepted John or Peter’s message in this chapter?

That isn’t a trick question.

How many?

Did we hear anyone did?

Does it say anyone did?

No one!

Not one person!

It appears this message did not connect like the one did last week!

Last week Peter preached and 3,000 people came to Jesus!

This week Peter preached and it FLOPPED!

I hope that inspires you all out there to realize today….. it is NOT about how many you lead or do NOT lead to Jesus.

It is just about trying your best to lead people toward Jesus.

Let me give you your life application today…..and then let’s pray and ask God to help us live this out.

Life Application: Start your day with this simple prayer and see what God does! Father, send someone my way today whose need is SO obvious that I cannot miss it. Remind me at that moment that I have what they need in You God. Help me resist the temptation to do nothing and instead depend on You for what to say or do.

Let’s Pray…..