← ArchiveActsSunday, May 12, 2019DateMay 12, 2019Speaker—TextActs 2Passages in this sermonActs 20:53Acts 2:14:13Romans 113:03TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00We'll be right back. Well, how's everyone doing?0:30How's everyone doing? That's right. What a great day to celebrate, to be dry and to celebrate the goodness of Christ. My name is Josh, if I didn't introduce myself earlier, lead pastor here at Bethel. We hope that you have your Bibles. We believe in the living Word of God. So go ahead and take your Bibles out, take your electronic device out, and join me in Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, Acts chapter 2. It's in the New Testament, after the Gospels, and before Romans and the Corinthians.0:59Are you healthy? I can't think of a more personal question to ask anyone than that. Are you healthy? That's why some of the greatest relationships we have are with our primary care physicians or with our health care providers. I remember growing up, and I didn't have the best eyesight. I still don't. And so I would go to the optometrist. And there was one test that would always, it wouldn't create anxiety, but it was difficult for me.1:29It was the glaucoma test. And so they would ask you to put your face in this machine, right, which is normal, of course, right? Stick your face into this machine, and this is what we want you to do. We want you to look at this picture. But I knew what was going to happen. I knew they were going to shoot air into my eyeball, which, again, is obviously a natural phenomenon. And when they did that, the doctor would say, okay, I want you to keep your eyes open.1:57I said, no. It would take me five to ten tries, and they would shoot that air into my eye, and then by the magic of television or whatever they would use, they would compare me to something. Now, I'm thankful that my optometrist did not come back and say, well, Josh, good news. We don't have a standard objective value of health, but for you, you look okay.2:22That's not what we desire in a health care provider. What we desire is someone to say, this is a baseline of health. This is the model for where we want you to be. Josh, we want your vision to be 2020. Yours is not anywhere close. So we're going to give you corrective lenses to get you back to this picture of health. Praise God for primary care physicians, and I'm thankful that we live in an area that has one of the best health care systems in the world.2:52I think that's God's blessing on us. We take that for granted. I do sometimes. I just neglect to thank God for the area that we are in. And when you travel around the world, you see how thankful we should be. But when's the last time you had a spiritual checkup? And if you had that checkup, where is the baseline for how you check your life against something that is greater and absolute?3:19Because if we're honest, most of us just hope we're doing well. So we're going to look at the Word of God this morning, and we're going to align our church with what the model of the healthy church was. We're going to look at our lives and say, this is a healthy believer in Christ. Do I line up? God, am I sick? Do I need an immunization? God, do I need vitamins?3:48Lord, do I need to repent of my sin? Thankfully, God doesn't say, good luck. Figure it out yourself. He gives us His Word. So let's read the Word of the Lord. Beginning in verse 1 of Acts chapter 2. And then we're going to skip to verse 36. Acts 2.1. I know this is a Baptist church. Just bear with me. When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.4:17Now let's move to verse 36 of the same chapter. Therefore, on the day of Pentecost, still, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.4:46And when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, So with many other words, he testified and strongly urged them, saying,4:56Be saved from this corrupt generation.5:25So those who accepted his message were baptized, comma, listen to this, Over 3,000 souls were added to their number that day. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. So with that, church, let's pray. Father, we desire to be a people, a collective group made up of individuals who are healthy,5:50pursuing a godly relationship through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, let us look intently at a mirror, to a picture of a model church, to a picture of a healthy, growing community of faith. Lord, let us live a healthy life that we would honor you in what we say and what we do and our attitudes.6:20Lord, may we not gauge our lives based on our objective, subjective standards. But help us look at ourselves through the lens of eternity, through the lens of one who is sovereign and holy. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.6:51I want to give you four pictures of health for the church. A church will not be healthy if they don't have these four things. And as the church corporately is made up of individuals, you and I will not be healthy unless we demonstrate these things in our life. And they all begin with E to help you out and to help me remember these things. So let's look back at verse 1. No text in Scripture has been more closely scrutinized in this text.7:18Entire denominations have been created from this chapter in the Bible. The Pentecostal movement began after an examination of Acts 2. So why do we begin in Acts 2? Most scholars would call this chapter the birth of the church. And you see why.7:48Because what we have in Acts 2 is the church, the pre-church, gathering together. You know, they're waiting for that countdown to worship to start. And something happens. If you look at Acts 2, a sound like a violent wind comes. And in 1998, this church was destroyed by a tornado. So we can relate. If a wind comes, it's going to stir our hearts with fear. And after the wind comes, something comes from heaven.8:17It's these fiery tongue things. And they descend on these 120 individuals in this room, most likely the upper room. And they begin to speak in languages. This side speaking in Chinese. This side speaking in Arabic. This side speaking in Spanish. Maybe this group speaking in French. And we have a coroner speaking in some blend of Southern American redneck. Right? We have Chinese. And they're saying, y'all, come on now.8:47And in the midst of all of this, Peter stands up. And I don't know if he's addressing them in Hebrew, in Greek, in Latin, in Aramaic. But we have the words of the Lord here with us. And this is what he says in verse 36. So this is the crazy context. The Holy Spirit has come. The power of God has shaken his people. And he stands up in verse 36 and delivers the first Christian sermon.9:16No pressure, right? The first ever Christian sermon. And he says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. Now, I glossed over verse 1.9:46And all of this is taking place at what day? Pentecost. So the Latin pente, meaning 50, is happening 50 days. Actually, it's the Sunday. 50 days from that first Sunday after Passover. So think of the dots of the word of the Lord's connectedness. It's also the celebration of the first fruits. It's the celebration of God's bounty in the harvest. And this people of God celebrating,10:14God, thank you for being our deliverer. Thank you for being our sustainer. And it's also, tradition has it, by this time, especially during the time of Christ, that at this moment, on this day, this is when God gave the law on Mount Sinai. Now, what a bold claim. We have the giving of the law. We have 50 days after Pentecost. And we have the best that God has given His people, the fruits of this first abundance.10:39What is the Lord reminding us of? Hey, don't forget Passover. That was 50 days. Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Don't forget the law that God gave His people in Exodus on Mount Sinai. Don't forget that Jesus came to not abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. And don't forget that God pours out His abundance on His people at the weeks of firstfruits.11:09And don't forget that God has given us something even better than fruit, even better than meals. He's given us His Holy Spirit to sustain us. What a bold claim. This is the healthy church, and it's established on the gospel. So I want us to spend the majority of our time in this scripture looking at the gospel. Why is it important that we are established on the gospel?11:37Because what you tell me about sin, what you tell me about the sovereignty of God in your life, tells me everything about what you believe concerning salvation and Jesus Christ. Because if you don't have a sin problem, you don't need a Savior. And if you say, well, God doesn't have any business in my life, Jesus is not Lord. And you say, well, why is this important? Because in 2016, a Barna study polled evangelical Christians.12:04And here's what we said, 2016, 65% of us agreed that we sin a little, but we're mostly good. 65% of people said, hey, yeah, we sin, but we're pretty good. And then 53% of the same group says this. They said that we contribute something to earning a place in heaven.12:32If that is what you believe, you do not believe the gospel. If you believe that you sin just a little, but you're still pretty good, that is not what the Bible teaches. That's not why Jesus came. And so what is the gospel? Why is this important? Because we need to understand that there is no power in ourselves. That's why Paul said in Romans 1, 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.13:03But it is the what? It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. First the Jews, then the Gentiles. Hey, that's me. That's you. The power of God is not in us. It's in his son, Jesus Christ, which is given through the Holy Spirit. A healthy church must be established on the gospel.13:29And the reason many churches are dying throughout the world is because we are filled with members who are unregenerate and do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. That should break our hearts. So how can we understand this? Look, there's no power in your baptism. There's no power in your church membership.14:00There's no power on the day that you walked an hour, you raised your hand. There's no power than any ritual symbol that you have created or that you have, at the urge of a pastor, that you have demonstrated. The power of God in our lives is by faith in Jesus Christ alone. That's the gospel. And so Peter stands up and he quickly runs through what the good news is. And let me tell you what he says. One, that Jesus lived a sinless life.14:29Two, that Jesus is God. Three, that they killed Jesus, who was God. And four, that Jesus, who is God, rose again in three days. And this same Jesus, who rose again for the sins of the people, now ascended into high, and he sits at the right hand of the Father. And this is what Peter says. We need to understand this. To receive the gift of salvation, to receive the gift of salvation, he calls us, the gospel calls you and I to do what?14:56To repent. He doesn't call us to agree, to pay lip service, to clap, to sing songs that make us happy. We must agree and repent with the gospel. And so how can we establish our lives upon the truth of the Spirit? This is what Peter says. Upon hearing the gospel, the people in verse 37 were pierced to the heart.15:26It's a word in Greek that means a stabbing right here in the uttermost core of your soul. Homer used the same word in the Iliad and the Odyssey, for those of you who read that last night. He used the same word to describe a horse that is stomping the ground and just in fury wanting to unleash. It's almost as if a, what must we do to be saved?15:55And Peter says, you're in luck. Jesus will save you. He says, this is what you need to do. Look at what he says here in verse 38. And this is essential for salvation. This is not programmatic. Peter does not give a list and say, if you check this box, if you check this box, then you will be saved. But he said, this is what you need to demonstrate in your life to believe and receive the gospel.16:20First, he says, very simply in verse 38, repents. We don't use that word much anymore, do we? It's very clear in the word of the Lord. Peter says, repent. What is repentance? It is not feeling sorry for your sins. Although that's part of it. Repentance is a complete change of heart and direction.16:48The Greek understanding of repentance is to change your mind. But the Hebrew is to change direction. So repentance is literally a spiritual about face. To repent is saying, God, I was walking in sin. I was walking to the road of hell and destruction based on my life. And I will stop doing that. And I will agree and change my attitude. And I will turn towards you.17:17Have you repented of your sins? Peter says, repent and be baptized. Why baptism? Baptism is not a magical elixir or religious symbol. Baptism is simply a vivid picture of what repentance is asking God to do. Baptism is saying, God, forgive me and wash me clean.17:46And baptism is now saying, I have done that. I have repented of my sins and I have asked God to forgive me. And I have asked him to wash me clean. Baptism is an external picture of what the faith of Christ is already doing in your heart. Baptism is your demonstration of God's grace working out in your life. Peter says, repent and be baptized. Really, I think of baptism like this.18:17It's your, I am his moment. Baptism is you telling the world, hey, guys, I belong to Jesus. My heart has been changed. I turned from my sin and I want you to know it. You can't see my heart. Praise God. But you can see my life. And in June, on June 23rd, we're going to have a baptism celebration. And we already have adults and kids that said, I have given my life to Christ and I want to show them. I've repented of my sins and now I want to celebrate the goodness of God.18:47And if that's you, just take that Connect card out right now. Go ahead and mark, I need to get baptized. I want to get baptized. And put it in the collection basket at the end of the service and we'll follow up with you. And join the others who are demonstrating and celebrating their faith. Exactly what Jesus wants you to do. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Why? Verse 38.19:16Verse 38. Let's do this again. Peter replied, repent. Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness. What beautiful picture of God's grace that we can. We can be forgiven. Forgiveness is not found in baptism. Forgiveness is found in the shed blood of Jesus. And listen to this. When God comes into your life through Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, what sins are forgiven?19:46Not one, right? Oh, think about that. We have perfect, whole forgiveness through Christ. What a beautiful picture of the gospel. Who else on this earth can offer that? What other religion would say, if you believe in this, we will offer you complete forgiveness? Every other religion says, work will forgive you of one sin, but work to find forgiveness of the next.20:15And Jesus says, my one work on the cross has offered you complete forgiveness. So why can I live boldly and confidently in the assurance that God has saved me? Because he promises me complete forgiveness if I believe. Praise God for forgiveness. Praise God for the gospel. Spurgeon says this about his forgiveness. He said, I thought I could have leaped from earth to heaven at one spring when I saw my sins drowned in the Redeemer's blood.20:45Wow, what a beautiful Savior we serve. And the fourth, he says this. For every Christian, repent of your sins. Verse 38. Be baptized. It's what God wants you to do. Because you've been forgiven. And you will receive. Everyone likes a free gift. Right? We live in the world of infomercials where we say, but wait, there's more.21:12Not only can you be forgiven, that's enough. Not only can you be saved, that's enough. But God will send the gift of the Holy Spirit. I have never heard this many bad to say that word in a church service in my life. What a wonderful gift that he gives us. And if this is our baseline, how healthy are you? Have you repented of your sins?21:42Have you been baptized? Maybe God is stirring your heart right now and you think, I need to do that. I have not yet been faithful in that aspect of my life. Have you been forgiven of your sins? And have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit? This is not for secret Christians. This is not for the Navy SEAL Christian task force. The gift of the Spirit is for anyone and everyone who believes. A healthy church will always be established upon the gospel.22:09Secondly, though, a healthy church will always be embracing others. Look at what Peter says in verse 39. He tells us who the gospel is for. It embraces all people. In verse 39. It says, For the promise is for. You. And your. Children. Growing up in Mississippi, we always say cheering.22:38For the one who was speaking. For the one who had the southern tongue fire thing. That's what they're saying. For you, for y'all, and your children. And for those who are far off. Who is the gospel for? We need to understand this truth deeply. It's for everyone. It's for you. And it's for those who are far off. And you know who is far off?23:08Me. Praise God. That salvation is for those who are far off. I was steeped in religion. I thought I knew the Lord. And I did not know him. I was living as a son of disobedience. And the day I realized that the gospel was for me. It was like the light was turned on. I said, God, can it be true? Can you save Pharisees? God, can you save church people?23:36And God said, yes, Josh, even you. And I said, if this is for me, I want this. The day any church begins to talk about those people is the day that that church will die. Because we are those people. Because we are those people. The gospel is for all. For every nation. Every tribe will one day confess around the throne of God.24:04Are we a church that embraces all people? I pray that we're a church that someone who's going through the most difficult time in their life can stop by this steeple and say, I don't know anything about the church, but I know they will embrace me. Because I've seen them. And if God can save them, God can save me. That's the testimony that we need to have. Established on the gospel. Embracing all people.24:34Here's the third checkup. Look at verse 41. So those who accepted his message were baptized. Since in a theme, if you have not been baptized based on the faith of Jesus Christ, you need to. That's what God's people do. And that day, about 3,000 people were added to their number. Now this is how my mind works.25:03Some of you often would even think that my mind works at all, but it does. It works like the engine that's kind of sputtering. So it works in spurts. But as I was reading this, I began to think of Dan, who leads our worship and does an excellent job. And just thinking, how many verses of Just As I Am did they have to sing for 3,000 people to respond to the good news? Verse 400, keep it coming. Right? Poor Kim, she wouldn't have any fingers left playing.25:33We would have to invent verses. But can you imagine, though, the beautiful picture of people streaming to receive Jesus Christ? And I begin to think and almost to weep over this passage thinking, look, the healthy church obviously expected the Lord to move and to save. Do we expect the same today?26:03When you were driving here this morning, when I was driving here, did we expect God to do great things in our midst? Would we, if God saved 3,000 people in our area? And that's not, it was not, it would have been uncommon, but it would not have been out of the realm of possibility. At the Pentecost, over 200,000 people would have flooded to Jerusalem. But this was still a significant number. But if we had 3,000 saved today, would we leave here thinking, wow, I would have never expected that?26:31Or would we leave here saying, I knew something was going to happen? Maybe not that many, but I knew our God is mighty. And I knew He's powerful. And we expected great things. I just, I firmly believe in our lives that often God does very little because we expect little. I think we pray little prayers and we say, God, I know you said that you've, that you want to overflow our cups.27:00But God, I just want one of those little, those little cups. I want a thimble. God, just feel the thimble. And God says, don't you realize that at my word, the heavens were created? Josh, don't you realize that? Yes, sir, I do. Josh, don't you realize that I don't own one cattle on one hill, but I own all the hills and all the cattle on all the hills?27:25Yes, sir, I do. Josh, don't you realize that I am the one who can look into the tomb and tell the dead man to get up and rise? Yes, sir, I do. Josh, don't you understand that I can look at the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel and that at my word, that these bones began to reattach27:46and that there are sinews and muscles and breath comes into them? Don't you realize that's who I am? Yes, sir, I do. Well, Josh, don't you realize that I'm still the God who works on Mother's Day in 2019? Yes, sir, I do. Well, Josh, why don't you expect me to do great things? Oh, that we would be an expectant people.28:14That we would expect God to change our families. And that we expect God to grip our wayward children. And we expect God to change our churches that are dying because we don't believe in the power of God. Oh, that we would expect great things. And this is not a step for tomorrow. This is an expectation for right now in our lives. Oh, that we would be a healthy church.28:44A desiring church in our lives. Just very simply, I want to ask, do you expect God to do great things in your life? Did you wake up today thinking, I don't know what's going to happen, but man, God's going to do something. And if God is doing anything, it is something. And I want to be this. And so if we sing 800 verses of just as I am, praise God.29:13Praise God for that outpouring of his spirit on this people. And lastly, this is our picture of the early church and a healthy church. Verse 42. They devoted themselves. A healthy Christian will equip themselves for the purposes of God's glory, for the purposes of Yahweh. And they really did two things, but they have that broken into point one, two, and three.29:41They devoted themselves to the teaching of the word of God. And they devoted themselves to community, to knowing each other. It's as if this brand new church full of the spirit began to do the only thing that they knew. And that was to live for Christ. They didn't know anything else. They didn't have screens. They didn't have pulpits or iPads or pews or lights.30:08They didn't have air conditioning. Praise God, we do. But they had the Holy Spirit. And they did the only thing they knew, and that was live for Christ. So this is what it looks like in a healthy church. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. Why? Because the apostles' teaching was handed down from Jesus, right?30:36The Messiah. And Jesus' words were given by the Father, God the Father. And if you forget, this is all taking place around Pentecost, where tradition has it, God gave the law. You see how beautifully the picture of Christ works throughout all of Scripture? God is saying you need His word. It's central. It's vital. It is in His word that we find our ethical and practical teaching grounded in the truth of Jesus Christ.31:04It is vital for your soul. If you're dry right now, get into the word of God. Get into the word until it gets into you. So we want to help you do that. On your way out today, we have a resource table. It would be to my left. We have booklets on the book of Acts with all the sermon schedules through the summer that you can read and you can pray through that.31:29We have Bible reading plans that you can pick up and you can read every day. Read the word of God. If you notice, if you notice some of you are astute on your bulletin, we're going to begin putting a Bible reading plan in your bulletin every week. Take that home. Read the word of the Lord. Be like the early church. Equip your life on the gospel that is founded in the word.31:57I had a pastor once tell me this. If you do not have a plan, you're planning to fail. So we want to help you do that today as you grow in faith in Jesus Christ. The word of the Lord is vital to the community of faith. Jesus says, if you love me, you will obey my commands, my truth, my teachings.32:22Do you? Do you obey the word of the Lord? And then we see the church doing this, being equipped. We see them gathering together and fellowshipping. Now, we know obviously that the first church in Jerusalem was First Baptist Church because the first thing they did was eat. We don't know what they had, but it was obviously a potluck.32:51Well, why did they do this? Well, we worship the bread of life. We might as well eat. The last thing that the disciples had with their Savior is what? He broke bread at the Last Supper. And what the early church would do, they would regularly gather and eat for the glory of Christ. And in that eating, they would take the Lord's Supper too. So is this a reference to the Lord's Supper? Yes. But it's in the context of eating.33:21Let me ask you this. When was the last time that you had someone in your house to eat a meal? If every single person had someone in their home once a month, this place would serve over 5,000 people. If it was good enough for Jesus in the early church, it was good enough for us. Are you willing to open your house in your life for fellowship?33:51The Greek word is koinonia, which is a gathering together of God's people. It's a holding and a sharing. Are you gathering in communities? That is why life groups are so important. That we gather in small groups that we might gather around the Word and that we might intentionally fellowship around the good news of Jesus Christ. Healthy churches gather. Don't be a spiritual unicorn.34:22You won't find that in the Bible. I made that up. I said, what in the world are you talking about? A unicorn is something that we talk about, but doesn't exist. You've never seen one. You might control it. You might believe in them, but they don't exist. I'm sorry. They don't. But there are many Christian unicorns flying about in our world that would say, I love Jesus, but I don't need his community.34:46There is no picture of a Christian that looks like that in the New Testament. They don't exist. I can't exist apart from you. You can't exist apart from me. We're created intimately for the purpose of edifying God in his community. That's why we so strongly believe in covenant membership, where we commit to each other to grow in Christ's likeness.35:14This is being equipped for the glory of the Lord. And then lastly, they do this. The breaking of bread and to prayer. You see, a healthy body seeks God's direction and is dependent upon God because God's family of people do not work by feelings or intuition.35:35We work by submitting our lives to the will of the Father. The worst thing that you can do as a Christian is to go by your guts. Your guts will lead you astray. The greatest thing that we can do is to submit our lives before the Father and hit our face and say, God, may your will be done in my life as it is in heaven.36:02That's the picture of the gospel. That's the picture of a healthy church. That we regularly pray together and individually for God's purposes and will in our life. So when was the last time that you spent time in serious prayer with God?36:28That you wrestled before the throne? God's word challenges us, does it not? To be healthy. To live according to his word and his way. It's been said that Christianity is Christ. And Peter's message at Pentecost is very simple. This is Jesus.36:58Repent and be baptized. Maybe you're here right now and you've never repented of your sins. And you say, Josh, I want what Jesus is offering. I want forgiveness. So Josh, you believe. Pastor, you believe that if I confess and surrender my life to Jesus, that he will forgive me of everything I've ever done. Yes, I believe that. Because I believe we serve a Savior who can do that.37:25I believe that God did that for me. And he wants to do that for you. If you're here today and you've never received the gift of salvation, would you spend some time in prayer and say, God, forgive me. I believe. I believe in Jesus and I will make an about face today. I will repent and turn for myself and turn to the cross where you promise I will find forgiveness in my time of need. Maybe you're here and you realize you're not healthy.37:56Maybe you've never been baptized like God has called you to and begin to pray about that and fill out a connect card so we can follow up and that you'd be part of this glorious celebration worship service in June. Maybe you realize that you've neglected the fellowship of Christ. Maybe you're the one I've taught. Maybe you've been the unicorn. And you're looking around and thinking, man, the pastor just saw the horn on my forehead. To you, I want to say, welcome home. Welcome to the body of Christ that loves you and cares for you.38:26Are you healthy? Equipped for the purposes of God. Established on Christ. Embracing all people. And expecting God to do great things. Let's pray father← Previous in ActsSunday, May 5, 2019Next in Acts →Sunday, May 19, 2019More sermons on Acts →
