← ArchiveSunday, January 25, 2015DateJanuary 25, 2015Speaker—TextActs 2Passages in this sermonActs 20:09Acts 13:23Genesis 33:57John 74:39Acts 2:1–86:51Acts 4:329:59Acts 4:3310:58Acts 1:811:11Ephesians 2:814:06Acts 5:515:41Acts 8:825:23Acts 11:2126:33TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Amen. Praise the Lord. Man, goodness, they just get better and better and better. Or as we'd say, entrustful, gooder and gooder and gooder. Amen. If you brought your Bibles, I hope you did, turn with me to Acts chapter 2, please. Acts chapter 2, we'll finish today. The bulk of the idea of the heart for one, the theme, will continue on. And next week we began a series out of the book of Philippians. As Brad and I were talking about it just the other day, in the book of Philippians, you probably preached 12, 15 sermons out of there.0:30We're going to cover four chapters in four weeks. So we'll buckle up, call a joyful heart next week. And so we're looking forward to that. And invite somebody back next week. It'll be a great time of fellowship, hear this fantastic music ministry as well. Acts chapter 2, beginning with the first verse to the eighth verse. And I want to ask a question, and I want you to answer this in your heart. Do you want to be a great church? Do you want to be a great church?0:59And some of you are saying, well, I thought we were great. Well, maybe, I don't know. But do you want to continue to be a great church? Do you want to be a great church? Acts chapter 2, very, very important passage of Scripture. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly, there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting.1:27And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves. And they rested on each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Verse 5. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.1:51And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together and were bewildered because each one of them were hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, why are not all these who were speaking Galatians? And now, is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?2:19Let's pray. Father God, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable. Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you for what you're about to do in our midst today. Father, visit us today through your word. I pray, Father, we handle it accurately, and we walk away from this place different than we came.2:48And we thank you for the privilege of standing in this pulpit to preach your truth today. Father, do your work in this place today. In Jesus' name we pray. And the church said, amen. The second chapter of Acts marks a complete turning point in the history of God's kingdom. A new phase in his redemptive plan is unfolded as the church is born in Acts chapter 2.3:14Acts chapter 1, the disciples were waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. Acts chapter 2, he comes. Acts chapter 1, the disciples were equipped. Chapter 2, they were empowered. Chapter 1, they were held back. In chapter 2, they were sent forth. Chapter 1, the Savior ascended. In chapter 2, the Spirit descends.3:43The promise of the Lord Jesus Christ given in chapter 1 comes to fulfillment as the believers gather in the upper room and receive a wonderful promise from the Father. God's eternal, God's eternal redemptive plan began to unfold in the human history in the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter 3. He promised a Savior who would one day redeem the human race from the effects of that sin.4:07The unfolding continued throughout the age, past the giving of the Mosaic law to a small, small hill just outside of Jerusalem called Calvary. There, there, the incarnate Son of God gave his life for the sins of the world. After rising victorious from sin and death, he rose from the grave.4:35He promised to send a Holy Spirit, a powerful paraclete, to dwell in the believers, John chapter 7. The offense necessitated, excuse me, had to wait until Jesus actually ascended. So the Holy Spirit could not be indwelled in the spirit of those believers until he left. Through the assembly of the redeemed on God's kingdom has gone on since the fall.5:02The coming of the Spirit of God marks the beginning of what is uniquely called the New Testament church and has lived on all these years. The church, translated which means called out ones, the church is the bride of Christ, is the branches of the vine, it is the flock of the good shepherd, it is the kingdom of God's dear son, the God's household of faith, consisting of his adopted children, a spiritual temple of which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone,5:29but uniquely the body of Christ, the body of the living God. That is what the New Testament church is. There is unity in that body. Since all are indwelled by the spirit of the living God, there should be unity in that body.5:52Now, occasionally, we let flesh get in the way, do we not? Occasionally, churches, bodies of believers, allow the flesh to get in the way, therefore, then we take control and Christ is not in control. I think the body of Jesus Christ should be unified.6:22Is that to not say that we can't have our differences? Yes, we can have differences of opinion, but when it comes to the work and the mission and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must be unified as the body of Christ. Amen? So the question begs today, do you really want to be a great church? If that is true, we're going to look at six marks of a great church. Thus, this passage, Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 8, describes the birth of the New Testament church by the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.6:51It's summarized by its evidence of the Spirit's coming, by the effect of the Spirit's coming, by the explanation of the Spirit's coming. And with this event, Christ's life, death, and resurrection, according to Paul, not only Paul, but the scriptures itself, were not held in a quiet corner, stuck off in a secured location. It was open before the entire world.7:21This same could be said of the birth of the New Testament church. While the death, burial, and resurrection, the death of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ was out in public view. The New Testament church should be out in public view. Amen? We should have an integral part of everything that goes on in the community that we reside in. We reside, the Holy Spirit resides in us. We are the New Testament church, and we should be a force reckoned with.7:50Amen? We should not cow down to the political things of this world. You say, whoa, wait a minute, Dan. Aren't we to be politically correct? I don't care. I want to be biblically correct. I want to stand firm on God's word. I think if the New Testament church would stand firm on God's word, the phrase politically correct would go away.8:18We need to see evidence of the New Testament church. In this particular passage, you see it unfolding today. I want you to look at the message truth. I lamented over this. I anguished over this message truth. And if we riveted this message truth into our hearts, wow, what kind of church we could be for the community. A great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission8:47will build a great church. Now, I want you to know the foundations of a great church have already been laid on this island called Bethel Baptist Church. Historically, this has been one of the banner, the lighthouses in the community. This has an opportunity to be not only just a good church,9:14but this has to be an opportunity to be a great church, a force to be reckoned with. But we've got to make some strong commitments and we need some strong evaluations of who we are. Not only does this church to be that, but the next church down the road needs to be that. The church of a living God in North America needs a complete evaluation of itself, would you say? So as we look at this particular passage,9:42as we unpack, I want us to race forward and not break down this entire passage, but we're going to look at several passages that will help us understand the marks of a great church. If there was a focal passage, Acts chapter 4, verse 32, the beaver section of that, the whole congregation of believers was united as one, one heart and one mind. Now I want you to let that disbathe over you for a second.10:11The whole congregation of believers was united as one, one heart and one mind. I want us to look at these six evidences of a great church. And I want you to follow along and maybe jot down a note or two and maybe God will prick your heart to see an area that you may need to pray over10:39in your own personal life today. Six marks of a great church. Number one, a great church displays great power. A great church displays great power. Acts chapter 4, verse 33. And great power, and with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A great church has great power.11:08Now retreat back to Acts chapter 1, verse 8. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, many of you Bible scholars will know that, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth. Folks, let me tell you something. We receive the power of the Holy Ghost when we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. In April 1971, First Baptist Church of Trustville, Alabama.11:37I was a little 17-year-old kid playing football on that little, sorry, football team we had over there at Trustville. And I would sit about 15 rows back in the center section. Dr. Richard Francis, the pastor of our church at that day, had Youth Sunday. Mike Collins stood up and said, the only way you're going to get to heaven is through a personal encounter with the living God. I was a church member. I'd been in a youth group. My dad was chairman of Deacons. My mom sang second soprano in the choir. And that day, the power of the Holy Spirit12:07came into my life. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Now folks, let me tell you something. When I received the power of the Holy Spirit, I got all of it that day. Every bit of it. Now the evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit has grown in my life as the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, as I've grown in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. But folks, let me tell you something. We don't get more power as days go on. We got all the Holy Spirit12:37we're ever going to get when we invited Jesus Christ into our life as our Lord and Savior. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses. That's not an option. That's not an if you feel like it. That's not a negotiable thing. And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem. That's in our hometown. Judea, Samaria,13:06Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth. Folks, calling of God on our lives is non-negotiable. If you're saved by His grace, you are called to give testimony of His witness. A great church displays great power of the Holy Spirit. Number two, a great church has great evidence of great grace. Now, I want to tell you, I received the power of the Holy Spirit13:35when I was saved. I also got an abundance of grace. I know some of you say, where is it? I hadn't seen it in your life, Dan. Because you're strong. I know I am. And I work on that mercy side and that grace side. I do. There are some people who just ooze of mercy. That's not me. I have to work on displaying that mercy. But let me tell you something. Great grace was upon them all. Acts chapter 4, verse 33. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9.14:06For by grace, you've been saved through faith, that not of yourselves. Here we go. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works that anyone should boast. I wrote this down in my quiet time today. God just gave me this for you today. The grace of God sets us free from a life of perfection, performing, and pretending. Boy, y'all, let that bathe over you for a little bit because it just wore me out14:35all the way over here from my house. The grace of God sets us free from a life of perfection, performing, and pretending. Folks, let me tell you something. We have a time. We are pretending to be a great church. The New Testament Church in America is pretending to be a great church. Folks, we're baptizing less people. We're growing less, but we're building bigger monuments to God. And we can't pay for them. Church, let me tell you something.15:06The New Testament Church is growing like wildfire everywhere else but the United States of America. Why is that? It's because we are not displaying the great power of the Holy Spirit in the witness of the Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection. Great churches display great power. Great churches has evidence of great grace. Number three, great church has great fear15:35in awe of God. Acts chapter 5, verse 5, and verse 11. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon those, all those, hearing these things. so great fear came upon all the church and upon those who heard these things. When God gives instructions, church, listen to me, gather in here close.16:04When God gives us instructions, we should obey and respond accordingly. When God says, give, don't hold back. When God says, go, you better pack your bags. Amen? When God says, be on that mission project, be on that mission project. Be the first one signed up to the Dominican this year. Be the first one signed up for the summer projects. Be the first one16:34to go out and witness. Let me ask you something. How many of you know somebody that's lost without Jesus? How come have you not filled this altar with names that we pray over? We need to be a great church. God is begging for Bethel Church to stand up and say, we are a great church because we serve a great God who gives great grace and we have great fear that we take our eyes off Him. The book of Hebrews fixing our eyes17:04upon Jesus, the author, perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Folks, let me tell you something. Some of us need to start looking unto Jesus instead of the bylaws and constitution. Some of us need to start looking to Jesus instead of the way we used to do things. I want to keep my eyes and gaze on Jesus. Great fear is an evidence of a great church.17:34Number four, a great church will experience great persecution. Look what it says in chapter 8, verse 1. Now Saul was consenting to his death and at that time great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. Folks, let me tell you something. God never18:03God never wastes pain. He never wasted. No pain, no gain. I'm hurting today. You say, is you emotionally hurting? No, my knee is hurting bad. I'm going to have to go to the, I am, I am. And I've been working out trying to get in shape and trying to get back in shape and I worked out and this last week I really pressed it and I've had a little, you know,18:33you know, little change. You know what, Brad, you don't get these because you're young but you know that little knee, gnawing at your knee and yesterday working out doing those reverse lunges which are from the devil with 20 pound weights of the devil crunches and push-ups and planks of the devil but I was working out and I twinged it and my guy that I was working out with says, man, you got to go get to see about that so I'm probably going to have to go to the doctor and see what that, he says, I think you got a meniscus. I said, when did you become,19:03you work for Merrill Lynch, when did you get a medical degree? He said, I got a medical degree when I've had seven surgeries on my knees. That's what you got. You got a torn meniscus. You need to go get it repaired. Folks, let me tell you something. No pain, no gain. God never wastes pain. If we're not going through a little bit of persecution, we're not doing something. Amen? There's churches right now that are persecuted.19:32How many of y'all feel very comfortable in this room right now? There are people worshiping today in the cloak of darkness right now because of persecution. The only time really I've ever felt like that I was being accosted for the cause of Christ, I was in preaching in El Salvador during the war. I don't know why I went down there. It's crazy, I guess. I don't know. But God was spending time with me and he was a great guy named Leo Humphreys from New Orleans. He was a street preacher. He's an amazing,20:03amazing, godly man. He's in heaven with Jesus today. And Lee, I learned more about personal evangelism from Leo Humphreys than any curriculum I've ever taken, any class I've sat in. Leo Humphreys was a soul winner. He was a street evangelist, an amazing, godly man. He and Loyce, dear friends of ours. Leo had me down in Salvador and is in the middle of the war. The Iran-Contra thing was going on and there was just, I mean, we had times where the country would be overthrown in the same week and take it back over. It was crazy.20:32And I was up to preach one night in a place called Zac Emile. It's a suburb, a community of San Salvador, the capital city. And he said, your time is to preach tonight. We're going to show the movie. It'll be dark. We got a little light. Now I want you to know it wasn't a nice place like this. It was a little old platform that had a little spotlight about like this, just like a flashlight. And they were pointing it on me and I was going to get up at preaching. We got a note during the movie and during the movie it said, the person who proclaims the name of Jesus21:01will die at the hands of the rebels today. I said, hmm. Leo comes to me and says, Dan, I'll take you off the preaching rotation tonight because somebody's going to die and I'd rather you not die on my watch. I said, my goodness gracious. He said, do you want me to take you off? I said, well let me pray about it. I was real spiritually. Let me pray about it. I was like, whoa, this is interesting. So I went behind21:31the old van that we had and I knelt down behind it and Pastor Chris, I knelt down and said, God, what would you have me do? Lord, I know you sent me down here. I know this was the calling. I know I was commissioned to come down here. I know this is the calling on my life. What would you have me do? But I sure would like to go back and say hello to Debbie one more time. I'd like to hug her one more time. Lord, what would you have me do? And it was this, the Lord Jesus just literally spoke to my heart and said, get up there and preach. I was wearing a white golf shirt and jeans and cowboy boots22:00and I was, it was my time and it was hot that night and the movie came over and I grabbed Leo and I said, Leo, I'm preaching. So Julio Contenas, our translator, one of my good friends, pastors down there, he was translating for me. He said, it looks like we're going to die tonight by 2,000 people standing out there watching this movie and I stood on that platform and I began to proclaim the name of Jesus and about that time something hit me in the chest and I looked down and it was all red. It knocked me off the platform. I said,22:31I said, oh Lord, I'm coming to see you, Jesus. I'm dead. I'm shot and I looked down and it was red. Leo pushed me back up on that platform and said, son, it wasn't about the muddy rock. Get back up there and finish that sermon. The only time, Pastor Chris, I've been accosted for cause of Christ was that. There's not a deacon in this room man enough or mean enough to make me hurt me. Not one on this planet23:00is. You know why? Because I stand on the infallible, inerrant word of God called to proclaim his name and I've got the hedge of protection. around me, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something, folks. We do something for the kingdom of God. We will go through persecution. One of the greatest missionary speakers I ever heard speak, her name was Elizabeth Elliot. One of the greatest books I ever read23:3030 years ago is a book that I read every year called Through Gates of Splendor. I challenge you to go by it and read it. Through Gates of Splendor written by Elizabeth Elliot. Elizabeth Elliot was the wife of the three. One of the three famous missionaries that went to the Akua Indians in Ecuador to proclaim the name of Jesus. Pete Fleming, Nate Saint, and Jim Elliot. And I heard Mrs. Elliot speak at Briarwood Church one day and a man came up to her and said, oh, I went to the place where Jim was killed.23:59I saw the place. She said, really? You went to Wheaton College? He said, no, I went to that jungle in Ecuador where he was killed by the spears of the Akua Indians. And Mrs. Elliot says, no, no, no. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and Pete Fleming, they died in Wheaton College when they surrendered their life to Jesus and persecution could not come their way that they could not handle. A great church will experience24:28will experience great persecution. Number five, a great church will display great joy. Now this is going to make you feel good. Great joy. Now, I've been to these churches and I know Pastor Chris has too and others in this room. You've been to them. You've gone in there and they have that testimonial time where they say, hey, we're going to have testimony. Somebody stands up and share a word of testimony. And you know, inevitably, it's that person that stands up and says, I just want to tell24:58everybody I love Jesus. Snarled look on their face like they've been weaned on a pickle. And they stand up and I just want to say, why don't you tell your face about it if you love Jesus that much? Folks, let me tell you something. The world doesn't want what we have because we look like we have no joy. Great churches display great joy. Acts chapter 8, verse 8, and there was great joy in the city.25:28Joy is not about being happy all the time. Joy is about being holy, displaying the happiness of God in our lives. It's not taking your eyes off Jesus during the persecution. It is like keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus throughout the persecution. Great church displays great power. Great church is evidence of great grace. A great church has great fear. A great church will experience great persecution. A great church will display great joy.25:57great joy. And finally, a great church will be blessed. Gather this in with great numbers. I know some of you naysayers out there, I know, because every church has got them. Even the greatest of churches has them. That's all they talk about is them numbers. They print them out, they pass them out, we talk about them, we count nickels and noses and all that stuff. That's all you preachers want to talk. What's the numbers like? What's the Sunday school numbers about? What's the dollars looking like? What's it like?26:27You know, I used to get worried about that myself. We talk about the numbers too much. Then I came to the understanding, Acts chapter 11, verse 21, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and great number believed and turned to the Lord. Great number believed and turned to the Lord. I started thinking about this all the time. We talk about these numbers all the time, don't we, Brad? I mean, we analyze them at staff meeting and we look at them26:56six ways. We've got them on a spreadsheet and we're looking at the numbers of dollars and cents and how can we motivate this and move this and help this Sunday school class grow in this area. How can we do this small group this way? We look at great numbers and we worry about it. You know what it is? Great numbers. Every number is a life. It's a soul. It's a person that God has commanded us to fulfill27:26to fulfill the great commission. Great churches have great numbers display with a being blessed by great numbers. It grieves my heart and this is unacceptable to me that a billion people have never heard the name of Jesus Christ today. A billion people on this planet. About 80% of the people on the planet27:55will not attend a worship gathering today. About 80%. That is unacceptable is it not? Drive through Moody. Drive through St. Clair County. Drive through Leeds and see the countless of numbers of people that are sitting not attending a worship gathering being motivated to go out and share their testimony. To have a heart for one. A great church28:26will be blessed with great numbers. I copied this off to read this to you. I don't like like to read a lot to you but it's worth reading. I traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I've looked across at the south beautiful churches with their lofty spirals pointing heavily. I've held back28:57I've beheld I've beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education facilities. Over and over I've found myself asking what kind of people worship there? Who is their God? Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church but be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no29:27deep disappointment where there is not a deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in a rather unique position of being the son the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I love the church. I see the church as the body of Christ but oh how we have blemished and scarred that body through social29:57through social neglect through fear of being non-conformist. There was a time when the church was very powerful and the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that they recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion. It was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early30:26church entered a town the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought out sought to convict the Christians for being disturbers of the peace and outside agitators but the Christians pressed on. the Christians pressed on they pressed on with the conviction of their colony of heaven called to the glory of God rather than man. Small in number they were big30:55in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be astronomically eliminated by their difference by their effort in effort in example they brought an end to such evidence ancient evils in the infertile and gladiatorial contest these are different now but so often the contemporary church is weak and ineffectual voice with an31:25with an uncertain sound so often is the arch defender of the status quo far from being disturbed by the presence of the church the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silence and often even vocal sanctions against such things are they but the judgment of God is upon the church as never before if today's31:55if today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church it will lose its authenticity forfeit the loyal the loyalty of millions and be diminished as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th century every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust you would think that was written just recently but that comes from the letter32:24from the Birmingham jail Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. April 16th 1963 do you think Dr. King saw what the church was really like do you want to be a great church a great church displays great power a great church has the evidence of great grace a great church has great fear32:54fear a great church experience great persecution displays great joy and will be blessed by and with great numbers a great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will build a great church I opened my message today with a question do you want to be33:24to be a great church let's pray with heads bowed and eyes closed maybe in this room today you are a person that says you know until Jesus comes I want to be the person that's committed to building a great church33:53church maybe you're here today and God has spoken to your heart you want to be a part of a new testament of believers that is committed to the great commission and the great commandments to build a great church maybe you're a person here today and you said it to the best of my ability pastor dan i'm doing everything i can to help34:20to help build a great church if that be the case then praise the lord but if you're like me and was convicted throughout this week as i prepared for today's message i was so convicted in my own personal life of sometimes i don't always display his grace i don't always display34:50display the evidence and the power that is indwelled in my life maybe you're here today and you're like me and you say pastor today i surrender my life to you i surrender my life to the lord jesus today i want to tell you something church this week your interim pastor recommitted his life to35:19to do everything possible to be a great church and lead a great church father god we thank you for your word we thank you for the opportunity to worship with my brothers and sisters here today we pray for that persecuted congregation that is tucked away in the darkness today and at the35:48at the at this moment some of them they may walk out of their facility wherever they may be worshiping and be shot dead killed their family killed because they are worshiping the most high god and we sitting in this beautiful worship facility comfortable pews comfortable surroundings36:17surroundings god we we should be convicted today by not having this place filled to capacity overflowing god let us be a church a body of christ that is united one heart one mind to36:47to display your greatness and your glory and your holiness god convict us in this room i pray god you will speak to us today let us walk away today united and we give you the glory if you're here today and you need to speak to a pastor or a leader we have deacons that will be here at the front the altars open we have trained counselors these wonderful37:16wonderful men and women of god that would love to sit down and have gospel conversation with you if you're here today and god has spoken to your heart do not leave here without making making it right with the lord do not leave here without speaking to someone have someone pray with you father god do your work in this place there's one here that doesn't know you as savior this was not lord what37:46what some would call an evangelistic message but god i believe we've lived high through musical worship through preaching and teaching the word through sunday school lesson today i believe on this campus this island lord you're you have been lifted up now lord draw men women children unto yourself today lord do your work in this place god we thank you for what you're about to do now lord if there's somebody here today that needs to slip out give them38:16give them courage to take that first step we give you all the glory in jesus name we stand we sing youMore sermons on Acts →
