← ArchiveActsSunday, July 28, 2019DateJuly 28, 2019SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextActs 28Passages in this sermonActs 281:46Isaiah 6:915:00TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Music.0:30I just want to say thank you to the incredible praise team that we have, they use our gifts every week to serve the Lord. Thank you for leading us. Brad prayed, but what you might not know is our Redemptive Arts Pastor, Pastor Dan, who usually leads us. They had their second child this past week, and so he's there with Harvey. We call him Baby Harvey, and Harvey, if you're watching online, it feels like all of our kids are born with Facebook in their hands now. Just know we're praying for you at a week old, and so if Dan and Melissa, if you guys are watching,0:57man, we love you guys and can't wait to see you soon. And for everyone else who's watching, traveling, can't wait to have you guys with us shortly. So my name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here at Bethel, and we've been journeying through the book of Acts. And some of you who know me well, you know that I get sad when we finish certain books, because it might be 20 years before we ever go through Acts again. And so today is the culmination of what we have called the model church,1:26looking at the acts of the apostles and asking the Lord to stir our hearts, to change us and to challenge us as we encounter the living and active Word of God. We know that the Spirit of God works through His Word in our lives. So if you have your Bibles with you today, Acts chapter 28. Really, go in Acts until you can't go anymore. Acts 28, beginning in verse 23, and we will read to the end.1:54I want to share a story with you. Doctors report the heavy onslaught of music is threatening the hearing of this current generation. So some doctors estimate that one billion youth are in danger of losing their hearing. They're actually calling this generation the deaf generation.2:21And in particular, one ENT specialist says this. Dr. Cherukuri says that the largest cause of hearing damage is millennials using iPods and smartphones. And he says this. I thought this just was hilarious. You once had a Walkman with two AA batteries. Anyone want to admit that was you?2:49Okay. And headphones that went over your ears. And the sound was so distorted that you couldn't hear what they were saying anyway. But he said, now we have smartphones at our disposal. And the music is so crystal clear that it is permanently damaging our hearing. I remember in high school saving up $200 for a Sony Discman that would not skip. Now you guys don't realize how cool I really was.3:19But let me tell you. So it had a leather case and a strap. And you strapped it on your hands. So you could run like with a Frisbee in your hand. But it would not ever skip. So I could put in the cutting edge Christian music of that day. And I could listen to it crystal clear. But now we have our phones and we have hundreds if not thousands and millions of songs at our disposal. And doctors say that this is destroying our hearing.3:48And he says that sound that is too loud or played too long can permanently damage your ears. I began to think about that in spiritual terms. And I truly believe that if we're not careful. We can damage our spiritual ears with too much loudness of church. Of the institutional church. Too much loudness of Christian culture.4:15Or whatever it might be. And so I think we need to pump the brakes and say Lord. What are we doing that might cause us or hinder us. From hearing you. Because if we're honest maybe we have permanent hearing damage. Because people tell us how we should read the word of God. They've told us how we should listen to the spirit of God. And so we listen to other people. But how we should listen to God. Rather than listening to the Lord. You see we see a specific group of people.4:43That have that exact mentality. In Acts chapter 28. So let's read. About these people. In the book of Acts. Because I believe that we. You. I have a lot of similarities with this group. And that. We should pray Lord. Open our ears. To hear. Your holy. Righteous word. In your spirit. Acts chapter 28.5:11Beginning in verse. 23. So Matthew. Mark. Luke. John. In the New Testament. And then. Acts. Verse 23. Last chapter. After arranging a day with. Him. Many came. To him. At his lodging. That's Paul. From dawn. To dusk. He expounded. And testified. About the kingdom of God. He tried.5:40He tried. To persuade them. About Jesus. From both the law. Of Moses. And the prophets. Some. Were persuaded. By what he said. But others. Did not. Believe. Disagreeing. Among themselves. And began. To leave. After Paul. Made one statement. The holy spirit. Was right. In saying. To your ancestors. Through the prophet. Isaiah. Which he spoke. In saying. Hearing loss. Is not. A modern.6:09A modern. 2019. Phenomenon. Yes. It is. A problem. Here. But Paul. 2,000 years ago. Is speaking. To a people. Who have. Hearing loss. To live. In cultures. That are. Deaf. To God. This is what. Isaiah says. This is what. Paul says. Today. You will always. Be listening. But. Never. Understanding. You will always. Be looking.6:38Be looking. But. Never. Perceiving. For the hearts. Of these people. Have grown. Callous. Their ears. Are hard. Of hearing. They have shut. Their eyes. Otherwise. They might see. With their eyes. And hear. With their ears. Understand. With. With their heart. I will. Heal. Them. Therefore. Let it be known. To you. That this salvation.7:07Of God. Has been sent. To the Gentiles. They. Will. Listen. Now let me. Say. We're going to come back. To this verse. This does not mean. That God has forsaken. His people. The Jews. This just means. That the mission. Is continuing. To the Jews. First. Then the. Gentiles. And he. Welcomed. All. Who visited him. Proclaiming. The kingdom. Of God. And teaching.7:36And teaching. About the Lord. Jesus Christ. With all. Boldness. And without. Hindrance. Today's message. Is simply called. A life. Without. Hindrance. Father. We confess. To you. Right now. That. Often. We are. Tone deaf. Where we sit. In our pews. And we. Have bibles. On our shelves. But we. Truly. Don't know. What you. Sound like.8:05Sound like. So. Help us. Right now. Hear your word. By your spirit. Help us. Drown out. The noise. Of the things. That compete. With our attentions. And with our affections. Remove the distractions. That we might know. One thing. That is Christ. And him. Crucified. Lord. Help us. Live. Lives. Without. Hindrance. With boldness. Standing.8:34Standing. Upon. The promises. Of your word. We ask this. In Jesus name. Amen. And. Amen. If you are honest. What keeps you. From pursuing God. Don't say that out loud. Don't say that out loud. But if you were really honest. What keeps you. From pursuing. Christ. Because what keeps. A 16 year old.9:03From pursuing Christ. It might be different than. What keeps. A 86 year old. From pursuing Christ. And here's the beauty of the church. That you're worshiping in today. We have 16 year olds. And we have 86 year olds. Worshiping. We have a couple in this church. That I asked them again. I said. How long have you guys been married? They said. 67 years. They're not 67 years old. They've been married. Faithfully. And I said. What a wonderful church. That we can gather in. And we.9:32And we. Have. That experience. Here. In this place. If we're all honest. There's something. That strives for. Our. Attention. To know Christ. And to. Make him known. And so. This is where I want us to begin right now. If we're honest. And so. What you've probably had in your mind. Was external. Hey. I have financial difficulties. I'm having relational difficulties. Did you know that my kids threw a fit. And. And like. Legion. Jumped into my kids this morning.10:01And. Possessed them. We get it. But the greatest. Threat. To you pursuing Christ. Is not. Here. The greatest. Threat. Is right here. We're not going to sing. The star spanking banner. But go ahead. And put your hand over your heart. And I want you to feel the weight. Look. It's not. It's not their fault. That you're not pursuing Christ. It's not your fault. I'm not pursuing Christ. With everything I have. You know whose fault it is. It's right here.10:30This thing that we call a heart. And I pray that God would change our hearts. Look at what the word says. Verse 27. We're going to camp out right here. In this verse. For the hearts. Of the people. Have grown. Callous. Some of your versions say dull. Some of you. Have. A word that says. Callous. You see. These are people who. Will always.10:59Will always. Be. Hearing. But never. Understanding. Always. Seeing. But never. Perceiving. And how often. Do we find ourselves. Right here. In this scripture. I. I often go to the Lord. And say God. You showed me this. A thousand times. But Lord. Just one more. God. I've heard this a million times. But just one more. God. I've heard this a million times. But Lord. Just one more. God. I've heard this a million times.11:27But just one more. And I believe God is saying. Josh. We go to the Lord. And we say. God. I can't see. He says. Open your eyes. Open your heart. To my goodness. I want to give you. Three. Symptoms. Of an. Of a hindered heart. This morning. And I want to give us. Three evidences. Of a. Unhindered. Gospel centered. Life. So if you're counting. That's probably six points.11:55But we'll get through it. So. Three. Symptoms. Of. A hindered. Life. And it camps out here. In verse 27. The hearts of these people. Have grown. Callous. Dr. Luke. Is writing. The book of Acts. About Hearts. And he writes. This word. It's specifically called. Epakunte. And it's a word. That means. Dull. It's a word. That means. Callous. People who have. This. Heart.12:24Heart. Specifically. It can mean. Dull. It can mean. To fatten. It can mean. To be. Unfeeling. So the three. Symptoms. This morning. Of a hindered. Distracted. Heart. Are. Fatty. Hearts. Gross. Hearts. And. Unfeeling. Hearts. You said. Well there's three. You just gave me four. Dull. Is the same. As. Fatty. Let's look at the fatty.12:53Heart. What would that. Fat. Heart. Look like. Fatten. Heart. Is written. To people. Who know. The Lord. Isaiah. Is writing. To. Israel. The. What. The. Covenant. People. Of the Lord. The one. Who. By Abraham. Call you. Avrahim. Father. Of many. Because. Your people.13:22Your people. Will be my. My people. Look in the stars. Look how many stars. Count them. You can't count them. There's gonna be more people than that. In the stars. You're gonna have that many kids. Lord. I'm out. My neighbor. Would love that. That's. The blessing. Of. The Lord. These are the people that God is speaking to. So don't think of. Some people from a far off land. That have never heard the name of the one true God. These are his people. And if you have grown up in church.13:50And you say. Well I don't remember the first time I heard the name of Jesus. I've always been his. He's talking to you. He's talking. He's talking. To me. People that could have. Fatty. Hearts. You see. Fatty spiritual heart. Is the one who is. Puffed up. With knowledge. You're sitting in my seat. Say what? You don't realize.14:20That I've sat in that seat. For 20 years. But now you do realize it. So will you please remove yourself. Please remove yourself. From. My seat. Because I can only hear God. In. My seat. And heaven forbid. You hear God. In. My seat. And is that not trite and trivial. But how many times. Do we. Become puffed up. Because of. Who we think we are. Because we've added. And added.14:49And added. And added. And our hearts are fatty. Or. Greasy. Oh. That we would not have. This. Heart. In Acts. Paul uses a quote. From Isaiah 6. 9 and 10. The Lord. And the Lord sends. A cherub. From. The heavens. And he grabs. a call from. the tabernacle. And he takes it. And he cleans. And he cleans. And he cleans. Isaiah's mouth. And he gives him. A royal charge. And the train. And the train. Of his robe.15:18Filled. The temple. And Isaiah says. Woe is me. For I am. Undone. And I have. A dirty mouth. And I come from people. With unclean lips. And the Lord sends. A cherub. From. The heavens. And he grabs. A call. From. The tabernacle. And he takes it. And he cleanses. Isaiah's mouth. And he gives him. A royal charge. And Isaiah says. Lord. God says. Who. Who will go for me?15:47And he says. Here I am. Send me. And this is the commission. For Isaiah. This verse. Go to the people. Isaiah's seen this vision. He has a clean mouth. He has this new charge. This new zeal. And God says. Go to this people. They're going to be awesome. They're always going to hear. But you know what? They're never going to understand. They're always going to see. But. They're never going to perceive.16:14Isaiah. They have fatty hearts. They know a lot about me. But they don't know. Me. God wants us. To have hearts. That know him. Moshe Rosen. The founder. The founder. Of the Jews for Jesus. Says today. That the Jews. Are the. Among the most. Gospel resistant. People. In the world. Always hearing.16:43Always hearing. Does that mean. That God has forgotten. His people. No. There's always going to be. A remnant. God is still working. In. His covenant. Community. But often. The people. Who are most close. To the Lord. Can become. The most callous. To his work. That should resonate. With us. That we would not have. Fatty. Greasy. Hearts. But we're beyond that. Aren't we? We're not.17:13We're not. In Isaiah's day. We're not. Pharisees. And I'm not even. A Sadducee. We're beyond. This. Symptom. Or are we? How often. Do we drink. From the religious. Well. Of abundance. How often. I know this is. An old reference. Now.17:42Now. How often. Did we. Did we wear. Our. WWJD. Bracelets. And truly. Care less. About what Jesus. Wanted. How often. Do we listen. To our Christmas. Our Christmas. And Christian music. As we scream. Vulgarities. From the car. How dare you. Cut me off. Then we get. Our praise. Back on. How often. Do we find. Our Bibles. On. Every shelf.18:11Every shelf. And yet. Grow weary. In worship. And tired. When we pray. Fatty hearts. Is a symptom. Of a hindered. Life. But there's another condition. Not just. Greasy. Fatty hearts. Too puffed up. Or enlarged. But. Hearts. That are simply. Gross. The word. Calloused.18:40Calloused. Can mean. Gross. Now. What do I mean. By gross. It's not necessarily. The face. Do you make. When you eat. Brussels sprouts. Which. We love. Brussels sprouts. Put a little. Balsamic vinegar. On them. Broil them. For about. 20 minutes. Mmm. Like little. Cabbages. Don't come eat. At our house. If you don't like. Brussels sprouts. What do you mean. By gross. Hearts. Grossness.19:09Grossness. Is. Being. Unrefined. Bitter. Unpleasant. And. Very rude. I like to call this. The social media. Hearts. Right. Something about social media. Temps us. To join in. To join in. Trollish. Behavior. There's something. About social media. That says. You know what. You have a voice. And everyone. Wants to hear you. And. So. We become. Gross. We become.19:38We become. Outraged. I believe. The world. Looks at the church. Sometimes. And they just. See. Angry. People. Why are you so mad. Bruh? I mean. Look at your life. Sometimes. We just act. Like. We're mad. About everything. They took prayer. Out of schools. We. We can't pray. You can't pray. I can't pray. Because. Someone. Passed. The law. Don't.20:07Don't. Tell that. To Daniel. When you get. To heaven. Because. He's going to say. You know what. I had lions. And. I had my lord. And. I chose my lord. And. The lions. Bowed down. Oh. That we would not have. These bitter. Hearts. Hearts. These hearts. That. That say. God. It's all. About. Me. The fatty. Heart.20:36Heart. Says. It's about. Me. The gross. Heart. Says. I don't care. I love the lord. But. I don't love you. Or. Have you. Maybe. Said. You know. God. Says. I have to. To. Like. You. I'm. So glad. That. That's not. God's stance. Towards. Me. Because. I have. Given him.21:05Given him. A million. Reasons. Plus. One. Not. To. Love. Me. To be. Bitter. And angry. And. God. Chooses. Otherwise. See. It was. And. The Levite. Who. When they saw. The man. Beaten. On the side. Of the road. They were. Walking up. And. They were. They were.21:34They were. Going. To. Church. And. To see. A man. In. Need. Beaten. Bruised. Dying. Could be. Dying. And. The priest. Said. Some. I'm. I'm. Also. In. Her. Let me. Just. Let me. Just. Kind of. By. Pass. A gross. Heart. Unrefined. Heart.22:03Heart. That says. I don't. Really. Care. About. You. Right. Now. And nothing is more important than your health. And I'm going to take you to the doctor and I'm going to pay your medical bills. My goodness, how much would that cost today? You see, the gross heart is a heart that is hindered. It's a heart that is hindered from seeking Christ.22:29The third type of heart is this. Yes, we have the gross heart, and yes, we have the fatty heart, but we also have the unfeeling heart. This is the heart that is dull. This is the heart that says, I've been through so much in my life, it is easier for me not to feel anything. It's the heart that has no warmth, even though it's been through the fire.22:58Isn't that what normally happens to us? I've been burned three or four times, and so I'm just not going to have any warmth because of what has happened to me. And if we're not careful, if we do that, we lose our warmth towards Christ, don't we? If we cut off all feeling, then that's when we sit in church and we sing songs that should stir our hearts.23:25Praise Him. Praise Him. Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. But I don't want to feel it. God, I'll sing it with my mouth, but don't let it change my heart. Heaven forbid I feel God's mercy here. Heaven forbid someone look at me and think that God is stirring up a fire within me.23:55Remember what Paul, the same Paul that's in jail right now here, what he tells Timothy? He says, fan into flame the spirit that is within you. Fan that cold fire until you burn with rejoicing over Christ. See, the heart that doesn't want to feel is the heart that's hindered. And the longer we live, the more callous we can become, isn't it?24:26That's what a callous is, right? A callous on your skin. I'm not a medical professional. I don't send me emails after this, okay? But a callous is a place on your hands that have pressure. And over time, the more pressure and the more use they become, the more hard that part becomes. And so the more pressure, the more tension, the more stress, the more the callous grows for protection.24:54And if we're not careful, we want to protect ourselves so much that we don't feel anything. The world is dying for Christians to love and to care. These are three symptoms of hearts that hinder us from Christ. The fatty heart, the heart that is puffed up with knowledge. The gross heart, the heart that is unrefined.25:22If you're on your phone right now, put it down. It's not worth it. Quit being angry all the time. Or the heart that just says, I've had enough. I don't want to feel anything. I'm just going to go through the motions until the Lord takes me home. Praise Christ that the antidote to our hard hearts is found in Ezekiel. God says that I will remove your heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh.25:49So if I am in Christ, I have no excuse to have this same heart. Now we must have a different heart. And so let's look at Paul. We've looked at verse 27. Now let's look at what Paul says that was going to happen to people who love him and pursue. Some of you are greasy this morning. Some of you are gross this morning. Some of you are unfeeling this morning. And by the time we leave, I pray that we're different. Verse 28.26:21Verse 28. So the answer to our deaf tone hearts is hearing the spirit of God. The answer to our deaf generation is the spirit of the Lord. This new heart. And so the book of Acts ends right where we're going to end today.26:51Look at the final verse. Verse 31. Paul is in Key West, deep sea fishing. He is in jail for two years. So keep that in mind when we read this. He's in jail and he is proclaiming the kingdom of God, teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.27:12The book of Acts ends with this one word in the Greek. In New Testament it's called a hapax, H-A-P-A-X, hapax legomenon. But hapax means only used once. So Dr. Luke ends this book with one word that is only used one time in all of Scripture.27:36And most striking about this word, unhindered, it's the same word that Josephus uses of someone who is not hindered by Caesar to perform their normal customary rites as a Jew. Now we can't go into all this right now, but where is Paul going to? He's journeying around Asia and now he's jumping.28:06He wants to go to Rome and in Rome is a man who wears the fern thing around his head. Caesar, right? He's appealing to Caesar. He's appealing to this highest man. And Luke is using a word that means that he's not hindered by Caesar. So how can we live unhindered lives? How can a man who is in jail, strapped to a guard, can you imagine that guard, hearing about Christ every day over and over and over and over again?28:29How is this man unhindered for Christ? You see, if we can see anything in Acts, if anyone lived an abundant, unhindered, spirit-filled life, it was Paul. Shipwrecked, yes. Viper bites, yes. Beaten, yes.28:59Beaten, yes. Imprisoned, yes. And Paul is living this unhindered life. And so throughout Acts, the triumph was never with the bearer of the gospel. The triumph was always through the person. Does that make sense? So I don't want to subvertly make you think, well, if I just come to Christ and I'll be free from this person. I'm free from this prison I'm in. No, this book has a horrible Hollywood ending. Acts ends and Paul is still in, he's in prison.29:30He's not removed from prison. So I don't want you to think if I come to Christ, all the chains are going to fall off. Everything's going to be rosy. No, Paul would say, you don't understand. The power is not from me. The power is through me. The power is of Christ. We hold this treasure in jars of clay so that the all-surpassing glory of Christ would not be from me, but it's from Jesus Christ.29:53That is what Paul proclaims to us right now. So what are the three evidences of an unhindered life? Well, very simply, God does not want us to be fatty, but hungry. God does not want us to be fatty, but hungry.30:19What do I mean by that? The fattened heart says, I've had enough. I've had enough religion. Oh, that's good. I've had enough Bible. Look at me. I have had enough morality. Look at the boxes I check. I've never smoked. I've never danced. I only watch certain movies.30:48I've never watched anything else. So I am content with this. I have had all that I need. I've had enough institutional church. But Jesus tells us differently, does he not? In the Beatitudes, Jesus says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be filled. Now, he does not say that so that we will be fatty.31:17He doesn't say blessed are those who are greasy because the religion is oozing out of our pores. He says, no, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because you will be filled. I think of it like this. Have you ever been really thirsty? And maybe in your mind, when you're extremely thirsty, you only want certain drinks. Maybe for you it's water. For me, I either want a white Powerade. I don't even know the flavor.31:47I just know it's white. Or a Coca-Cola Classic, preferably in a bottle. And I like it with enough carbonation. And when I take that first sip, I get it almost bites.32:08But when I have that first drink, I don't put it down and say, that was enough. Fully satisfied. You know what I do? I say, I want more. So Jesus says, the more I hunger and thirst for righteousness, the more that he will fill me and I will be filled. And then the more I can hunger and thirst. The unhindered life is the hungry life. Maybe you have walked with Christ for 80 years. You don't know everything you need to know yet. You're not exactly where God wants you to be yet.32:37Continue to hunger, to continue to thirst for righteousness. That's what we should look like. We should look like people who are hungering and thirsting, that we can say, God, I want more, that we can say, ah, but God, I want so much more. I can't get enough of your presence. Lord, I want you in my life. Let's feast, but not grow fat. That's the unhindered life.33:07Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. And Paul is in jail and I can just see him wanting more, wanting more of the Holy Spirit working in his life. He's flagging people in near his jail cell. Hey, come on in. You, I have plenty of time. Come hear about the word of the Lord. Let me tell you why I can't get enough of this Jesus. Let me tell you what he's done in my life. I know I'm in chains and I know I might die in these chains, but I want to tell you about true freedom that you can't see.33:35Because I am hungry. I am feasting, but I am not fatty. The second evidence we need to have in our life is not gross, but gentle and unusually kind. I already told you about the calluses, right? Maybe you play guitar. The calluses that built up over time where you can't feel what you need to feel to protect you. Well, it's interesting in this last chapter of Acts, Paul has run into a group of people on the island of Malta.34:03And in verse 2, we see this about these people. They weren't gross. They were gentle. The word of God says about this group that they, the local people showed us extraordinary kindness. Did you catch that?34:33For the rest of eternity, these people will be known as extraordinary and kind. Not callous, not gross, not angry, not vitriolic, but people who were kind, who were loving. Can you imagine what the church would look like if the world said, we don't understand this God that you worship.35:01We don't understand this Jesus, that God would send his only son to die on the cross. And this, this son of God would raise again in three days and now send him to heaven. We don't understand it. But one thing we realize, it has radically changed your life and you are extraordinarily kind.35:24What would happen if the people of God changed the dynamic from angry religious people to extraordinarily kind? What would we look like then? This is the evidence of a gentle spirit. The unhindered life.35:55You say, well, I put these hurdles in my life because you don't understand who's hurt me. And so I'm going to put barriers and hurdles and a moat with alligators and sharks. And they will never do that again. Because if I, if I'm gentle, I'll be taken advantage of. Yes. True. But how much so when we worship a Messiah, that as a lamb led to the slaughter, he opened36:19not his mouth, who modeled gentleness and kindness. Oh, that we would be like this. The word used of the people of Malta is philanthropion. Someone who is extraordinarily generous.36:47We call them philanthropic. This philos, this love of, brotherly love of anthropon, of others. Church, we need to get back to the basics. We need to be gentle and loving towards others. Not fatty, but feasting. Not gross, but gentle. And lastly, the unhindered life. Not calloused, but convicted.37:15The unhindered life feels deeply and is convicted about the right things. The right things. Oftentimes we are convicted about the wrong things. And the world looks at us and we say, y'all don't even know what you believe, but the things that you do believe, we're not sure that scripture teaches that. And the things that you're angry about, we don't know if that's what God desires in your life.37:42We need to stand upon the word of the Lord. We need to champion the right to life. I'm saying that all men are created in the image of God. Those born and those yet born. There is only one race, but there is multiple ethnicities and all men are created in that image. That's something that we should get behind. Oh, that we see people in need and we are the first to run to them and to pick them up and38:10to bandage their wounds and to help those in need. That's something that we should be convicted. That the word of God is living and active and true and is our authority. That is something that we should stand upon. We need to be convicted about the things that God is convicted about. We need to be convicted that Jesus is the way, that he is the truth, that he is the life.38:36We need to quit looking at a world that is dying and going to destruction away from God and saying, look, Jesus is the hope. Instead of sitting back with apathy and saying, good luck, hope you figure it out. We need to be convicted hearts. Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God, teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.39:00Just simply, I want us to close on this thought. For those of you who like to watch movies, if this were a movie, it would have a horrible ending. It doesn't really end. Paul is proclaiming Jesus and he's done.39:28Why would God's word want us to end there? Because he wants you to understand that the spirit of God does not end in Acts. That this message of redemption and the hope for the nations continues. And it continues in 2019 in July. In St. Clair County.39:59When the people of God gather around the word of God, the power of God and the spirit of God. This story, the proclamation of the kingdom without hindrance continues. It's as if the Acts of the Apostles is still being written in your life today. That's what God wants us to know. Another story that did not have a Hollywood ending is a man named Walter McMillan.40:24Some of you might recognize this story. In 1986, this man was convicted of killing an 18-year-old girl at a dry cleaner in Monroeville, Alabama. Despite witnesses testifying that he was at a fish fry at his church. Because of the outrage, he was immediately sentenced and immediately convicted and immediately sentenced.40:50Well, many people realize, though, this was a false conviction. And so a man named Bryan Stevenson decided to defend Mr. McMillan. And after six years on death row, he was freed. And able to live and live a life of hope and joy. But the story does not end on a happy note.41:19This is what the attorney Stevenson said. He said, One of those scars was early onset dementia. And the doctors believed that his dementia was caused by the trauma of being nearly executed six different times. So bad was the trauma that he was a prisoner in his mind.41:51When attorney Stevenson would visit him in the hospital, McMillan was still telling his lawyer, You've got to get me off death row. You've got to get me off death row. He was freed. He was declared innocent. And yet he was still a prisoner in his mind. And I believe that many of us still live as a prisoner of our shame.42:16The scars of our sins. And the guilt that we bear. We read things like, Feast on Christ, but don't grow fatty. And you, you're feeling guilty because you know you've grown up in church. And you've, there are times in your life where you're arrogant and pompous. And you yielded the, the Bible as a hammer and not as a sword.42:43You feel guilty. And you just feel like the chains of that guilt are weighing on you. I want you to know that God can free you from that. That Jesus died to release you from that prison. To give you hope and to give you a future. Maybe you've never given your life to Jesus Christ. And you're trying to figure out how could a man, Paul, who was in prison, declare that he had freedom in Jesus Christ.43:13And I can't fully explain it to you right now. But I just want to say that's the power of the Messiah. And when you come to Jesus Christ, everything that, that weighs you down and so easily hinders you, Jesus says, I'm glad you brought that here. I'll take it. I'll walk in abundance of life. Walk free. Don't walk with these chains. Don't walk with this heaviness. Go.43:43Go. That is what God wants for his people. You've never put your trust in Jesus Christ. You can pray a prayer like this today. God, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I've fallen short. And God, I today believe that Jesus died for me. I believe that he rose again. I believe that if I put my hope and trust in him, you will forgive me and you will make me right before you. And God, I declare with my mouth that you are my Lord.44:14And I will live every day with you. You know what the Bible says if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? Is that you will be saved. Think about that. That we can have salvation. And if you're here right now, if you've prayed that prayer, if you need to, I pray that you would get your heart right with Christ. Maybe you're here and you are wearing chains. Maybe you're the fatty heart. Maybe you're the gross heart.44:43Maybe their heart, you say, I'm not going to feel anything you just said. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Would you open up your heart to the King of kings and Lord of lords? It is worth it. Oh, that we would feast and not grow fat. Lord, make us hungry. Oh, that we would be gentle and not gross. God, give us kindness. Oh, that we would be convicted and not calloused. Oh, we, the people of God, may we respond to his word45:12in a way that would bring him glory and build our faith. Let's pray. Father.← Previous in ActsSunday, July 21, 2019More sermons on Acts →
