Grace Gone Wild Finale
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Wild Grace Causes Me To Be Bold
COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOLDNESS
While the world around us is getting bolder and bolder the church seems to be getting more and more timid.
But we are called to be bold, we are called to stand, we are called to bring the good news of Jesus to a world that desperately needs it.
THIS IS THE BEAUTY OF THE LOCAL CHURCH — But we are also individually called to be a part of it
THE FIRST CHURCH IN THE BOOK OF ACTS TOOK THIS SERIOUSLY — To be bold together but also individually
PETER AND JOHN are on their way to church and on the way there they run into a man who has been lame from birth. We learn he’s been there every day for quite a while begging for money. As they come by he asks for money but Peter replies that they don’t have money to give but in the name of Jesus stand up and walk. And he does. We then learn that he runs into the temple and starts praising God.
11 While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you. 15 You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.
NOTICE That they did not just give him something they also pointed him to Jesus. You can do good but not bring Jesus. What good is healing here on earth without the presence of Jesus. What Good is walking on earth only to not walk into eternity.
I remember being a part of a church a while back and we would have these outreaches where we would serve food or clean up a school or any number of things. And we would be told “we are not here to share Jesus just to love on our community”. And in some ways I understand what they were trying to do. In an effort not to ruffle feathers or not get the opportunity to serve there again they would hope that just showing love would not share the gospel. To not appear like there was this bait and switch.
BUT WE ARE CALLED TO BE BOLD — If we paint a school but never give someone the life changing opportunity to enter a relationship with Jesus then what have we done? WE HAVE A GENERATION OF BELIEVERS THAT ARE QUICK TO HELP BUT SLOW TO SHARE. Quick to provide but slow to give witness to that fact that Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life. THIS WORLD NEEDS JESUS.
IT’S NOT ONE OR THE OTHER IT’S BOTH AND.
BECAUSE WE ARE CALLED TO
We are called to join in on God’s redemptive work
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Peter writing to Persecuted Christians in Asia
15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
BECAUSE GOD LOVES EVERYONE YOU MEET
Every single person you lock eyes with is someone that Jesus gave his life for
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
No matter who it is you don’t know everything they’ve done. They have regrets you don’t know about, addictions you don’t know about, hang ups you don’t know about. They need a savior named Jesus.
WHEN YOU TREAT MY WIFE WELL IT MATTERS TO ME.
BECAUSE ETERNITY IS REAL
This is something that believers and the church have gotten soft on.
ETERNITY IS REAL — Heaven is a very real place where we will spend eternity in the presence of God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:12 that our reward in heaven in great. Mark 10:21 preparing a place for us.
Jesus himself speaks of hell often. Those who reject his message of judgment and forgiveness will suffer worse than Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt 10:28). At the end of time, Jesus will sit on a throne as the Son of Man at the end of time and judge the living and the dead. Those who have rejected Jesus will go into an eternal fire prepared for Satan and his angels (Matt 25:41). In hell, Jesus states that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:50).
WE PUSH HELL ASIDE AND PRETEND IT’S NOT THERE LIKE LAUNDRY SO WE DON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT. OR DIRTY DISHES.
19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate. 21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. 24 ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’ 25 “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’ 27 “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—28 because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’
IF WE UNDERSTOOD THIS HOW COULD WE NOT TELL EVERYONE WE MEET? — HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL HAVE US IN MIND AND SAY “WHY DIDNT THEY TELL ME!? — You may feel like sharing Jesus is awkward but imagine how awkward it will be when they realize in eternity that you never told them?
13 When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 After they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign has been done through them, clear to everyone living in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that this does not spread any further among the people, let’s threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.” 18 So they called for them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; 20 for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN FREEDOM WE ARE CALLED TO BE BOLD IN SHARING THAT GREAT NEWS OF JESUS TO OTHERS
TALK TO THEM — INVITE THEM TO CHURCH
IF YOU KNEW, SOMEHOW, THAT IF SOMEONE DROVE OVER A BRIDGE IT WOULD GO OUT YOU WOULD DO EVERYTHING YOU COULD TO KEEP THEM FROM IT… WHY NOT ETERNITY?