The apostle Paul is the mega impact person in the church of Jesus Christ in the first century. No less than 13 books of the Bible are attributed to him. Half of the book of Acts talks about his evangelistic impact. He preaches more sermons than anyone but Christ. He planted in the neighborhood of 21 churches. Probably led more people to Christ than anyone else in the first century church. I don’t know about you but I am intimidated by such a track record. So what does the apostle Paul have to do with my life? It has relevance in the sense that to get to the place that God wants you to be requires more than character and giftedness. We will look at events in the life of the apostle Paul and see how relatively unknown people, other than Jesus Christ, had a major impact on Saul becoming Paul. Normal believers were used by God in powerful ways. I got a reminder that I need to appreciate the people who influenced my life over the course of my ministry. We will look at minor characters in the book of Acts that had a major impact. You also can have a major impact if you use your spiritual gifts and your relationships to help people become all that God wants them to be.
On Monday, our nation remembered and honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While known mostly for his activism against racial injustice, he was first and foremost a minister of the Gospel and his faith served as the foundation for his commitment to achieve social justice. Dr. King lived his faith boldly and often incorporated scripture and the Gospel message in his now-famous speeches. The Bible calls believers to live their faith boldly and gives an example of what that looks like in Acts chapter 5. Join us Sunday as we dive into this example and see what it can look like to live your faith boldly.
Hypocrites! It is one of the great barriers in our endeavors to tell people about Christ. Why is it that Christians sin and there seems to be no consequences either in terms of their relationship with church or their relationship with God? In Acts 5 we find that sin has consequences. This chapter is so scary some commentators try to make it an apostolic episode that is not repeated in our time. But we will look at the consequences of premeditated sin and a failure to admit that sin in order to cover up our sin action and protect our pseudo-spirituality. It’s true on judgment day if you are truly a Christian, no sin will keep you out of heaven. But take for example 1 Corinthians 11 in which the apostle Paul says because some people have taken communion with a frivolous and unexamined heart, thus some are weak, some are sick and some are dead. We have to be careful not say that all illness comes from a previous sin action. A better way to say that is not all sin actions lead to illness. Also sin actions by unbelievers are not judged until judgment day. But premeditated sin with a concerted effort to hide that sin when confronted, may have dire consequences. And if there are no consequences, it’s possible that you’re not a Christian. Hebrews 12. So sin is a serious consideration. Let’s look at how to view our sin in light of what God’s word has to say. This Sunday Acts 5.
In Acts chapter 4 the disciples encountered strong opposition to the gospel. After healing a man and saying there is no salvation except in the name of Jesus, they were no longer allowed to worship in the temple. They had to learn a new lifestyle. That new lifestyle would be to live in a miracle on the edge of disaster. This requires a biblical focus in your prayer life. The disciples picked the right issues on which to stand. Those issues generally centered around the theme of making Jesus known. The disciples shared their temple leader opposition with the whole church. This conflict became the focus of the church’s prayer life. But before they prayed about the specific needs, they focused upon God’s character, God‘s role in history and God‘s role in prophecy. With those three things in mind, the disciples prayed with confidence and were empowered to make Christ’s name and the word of God clear to everyone that would listen. So this Sunday we find out how the disciples lived out their faith.
I’m going to be a prophet this Sunday and tell you that in 2022 you will have pain. The good news is pain may be helpful. One assumption here is that you didn’t deliberately do wrong. If we make wrong or sinful decisions, we will bear the consequences. Instead, I am talking about pain that enters your life due to no fault of your own. This is the most common kind of pain for those who are aggressively pursuing God‘s will. Generally speaking what moves us out of our comfort zone, apathy, is pain. During difficulty we learn the most about our character and what God wants to create in our lives. Our true character is revealed and changed through difficult and painful experiences. To make sure our pain has the most benefit, we need to count pain as beneficial. We need to know that when pain enters our life, it is not meant to hurt us ,but to help us become the kind of person that God wants us to be. This pain puts us on a better path for a better future. So this Sunday we will look in-depth at pain’s benefits. I cannot wish you a pain free new year but I can wish you a Happy New Year!
We all know Romans 8:28 by heart, but how does that work out in real life? Oddly enough the Christmas story has many instances of things that were not good. Only when God touched them did they work out for the good. Christmas is an illustration of Romans 8:28. We will learn how a series of unfortunate events, or at least untimely events, resulted in the most significant event in the Bible other than the crucifixion and the resurrection. So we will learn from historical examples in the Bible how God remains in control when it seems like things are out of control. God is sovereign!
The shepherds were in their fields watching their flocks by night. These shepherds wouldn’t seem to be major players in the first Christmas, but consider the following. They were among the first people to hear about the birth of Messiah. They got a visit from an angel. They immediately obeyed and went to Bethlehem. They were the first citizens of Bethlehem to worship at Messiah‘s birth. Since they saw angels, they were one of the few believers ever to have such an experience over the course of human history. So I think in terms of the role players at Christ's birth I would’ve been glad to join them. Being a former farm boy it would have been nice to get away from the sheep for a few hours! Maybe you could read the Luke chapter 2 story of Christ’s birth in preparation for the message. Pray for this Sunday and the Christmas Eve service. Pray for those who may not be regular attenders, that they will understand the significance of the birth of God in the flesh.
Merry Christmas!
Obviously people respond to Christmas in different ways - ignorance, indifference, anger, sadness, stress, depression, joy, love, giving, etc. As we look into the New Testament this Sunday we will see many of those same attitudes in the people who were involved at the first Christmas. The usual suspects were not there to worship Jesus, the unanticipated people were there. What motivated them? Where were the people who should have been at the cradle of Jesus? The supernatural had very little to do with who worshipped. They worshipped a supernatural baby but it didn’t require supernatural power to worship the baby. So let’s look for some ways we can join the unlikely Christmas worshipers.
It’s Christmas time. There are certain celebrities that we associate with Christmas. Mary, the shepherds, the wise men, the innkeeper and the angels. Someone we don’t hear much about is Joseph. He’s what I call a silent witness. He does not utter a single word in the New Testament. And yet in spite of the fact that he is not the biological father of Jesus, Joseph has a major impact. Are you a person who thinks if you cannot speak well, then you can’t witness? If so I think you’ll find a lot of encouragement from Joseph’s life. His role proves you don’t have to be a celebrity or even have a speaking gift to go down in history. None of us have our names in the Bible. Joseph‘s contribution to the Christmas season is clear. We'll find out how clear this Sunday as we look at Matthew's gospel account of the Christmas story. We'll also light the second candle of Advent. We will also have communion. So this should be a Sunday filled with great opportunities to understand how we can be a normal carpenter or have a normal occupation, and still be part of God's story on planet earth.
This Sunday we conclude our series in the book of Luke. Over the past 20 weeks we have looked at many values to live by. The value of forgiveness, the value of prayer, last week the value of awesomeness. And this week we look at the value of belonging. All humans have a need and desire for relationships and to belong. We will explore on Sunday from Luke 15 what Jesus says about belonging. And we will see how Jesus calls us to belong to Him.
I can’t remember who said it or exactly how they said it but here it goes: the reason we don’t evangelize is because we don’t worship. If we both in personal and corporate worship know what God is like, evangelism would be the most natural outcome. To stand in awe of God moment by moment will put us in a position where we can’t help but share our faith. This Sunday we are going to examine how to be in awe. Our God is an awesome god, but do we understand the ways in which Jesus is awesome? Last Sunday we established the fact that Jesus is the God. This Sunday let’s establish the fact that we need to be in awe of Him. What are the practical benefits of being in awe of Christ? Let’s consider the scriptures on that subject.
If you have shared your faith with some frequency, you will often find the Jesus objection: Oh Jesus was a great man and a great moral teacher but he was not God. There are even Bible translations that refer to Jesus as a God not the God, e.g. New World translation. There is not a more important truth to consider in the New Testament than the identity of Jesus Christ. The New Testament was originally written in Greek so what does it say? Is Jesus ever called “the” God or is the word “the“ found in the Greek text? Assuming the Bible is the word of God, does the New Testament make it absolutely clear who Jesus is and how his identity impacts your eternal life? Secular humanism and several Christian cults are trying to undermine the identity of Jesus Christ. What’s our answer? I hope to give you some tools with which to answer doubters on Sunday.
Forgiveness. We all need it. Do we give it? Regret, anger, guilt, and blame are all causes of pain. But often the pain is unnecessary if by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the permanent attitude: please forgive me and I forgive you. Some psychologists believe that the number one downside in harboring unforgiveness is a perpetual state of unhappiness. Thus your ability to forgive in part determines the overall quality of your life. Of course Christ understood this concept and talked about asking forgiveness in Matthew 5 and seeking to forgive in Luke 17. Why is Christ so intent on the subject of forgiveness? People who know how to forgive and seek forgiveness, are able to live life at a high-level in personal relationships. So let’s explore forgiveness this Sunday in such a way that we live together in an atmosphere of love and harmony.
One element of most world religions is the belief in ghosts. Even the disciples of Jesus were at first confused at his appearance in the upper room. "They were frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit." It wasn’t the first time the disciples made mistakes about Jesus. So how did Jesus address their spooky orientation? There would have to be physical evidence in addition to Christ’s words. When you think about Christ's resurrection, is there any harm with symbolic, allegorical, mythological, or spiritualist orientations regarding his post resurrection appearances? How is a fish one aspect of evidence? Do you think Christ will have pierced hands when you meet him in heaven? Can it be helpful to prevent people from seeking resurrection experiences? These and other questions will be answered this Sunday as we consider the value of the Physical Resurrection in history and in our own story.
What will be on your tombstone? What will be your last words? Alfred was born in Stockholm Sweden. He was a gifted engineer, chemist, and inventor. His specialty was weapons of war, especially explosives like dynamite. Years later his brother Ludwig died suddenly of a heart attack and the newspaper got it wrong and said Alfred died. That morning he read the headline: the merchant of death is dead. The article explained how Alfred had become rich by finding new ways to kill people. He was appalled. The mistake resulted in him changing his legacy. He left nearly all his wealthy estate to establish the Nobel peace prize, each year given to the person doing the most to help humanity in the elimination of war. How satisfied would you be with your legacy today? Alfred Nobel had a rare opportunity to re-write his ending, How about you? What will your obituary/tombstone/last words look like? What will be your legacy? Jesus Christ left an example. Sunday in Luke 23 we will discover how to die.