Message 10 - The Church - Breath Again

Acts 3

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SPEAKER_00 0:04

Good morning, family. Good to see you all. And especially on this day, I know this is one of those days where you rolled over and and uh you looked out the window and was like, uh, I think I just go back to sleep. And he didn't, and he came here instead. So really glad to have you. Uh uh especially want to tell say how much I'm glad to have one special woman today who, as of Friday, has been married to me for 50 years. They're clapping for you, Mary, in amazement. Uh, and it's really amazing because I'm only 40, so I don't know how we did that, but uh this the the Pat we're in Acts chapter three. If you want to go ahead and get there, we're halfway through a message, the second actually, the second message that uh Peter's preached uh in the this uh first church ever. Uh and then this we're still in the very opening days, and our he's on his second message. First one, I don't know how you topped the first one, because the first one, after he got finished, it uh over 3,000 people came to know Christ. So that so uh but he's already into an opportunity to preach the second one based on uh uh an experience that just happened where God uh used Peter to heal the man who had been uh crippled since birth. And this has obviously drawn a crowd and given Peter an opportunity. Uh and one of the things that we and we talked about this last week that is that we should be watching for opportunities as believers to point people to God. And we see that Peter sh is showing us by example that when Jesus commissioned him and the other believers, right before he went back to heaven, and he said, This is this is what I have for you, this is your responsibility. Point people to me, uh, make disciples. Uh Peter has taken this seriously, and uh so he's been given another opportunity, and so once again he is uh sharing with these individuals, uh pointing them towards God and a relationship with God that can come by way of Christ. This is a challenging passage for me. When I went to uh a Bible college, we the one of the classes we took was homiletics, uh, which is uh all about preaching, looking at the taking the word of God and and making messages. Uh and one of the things we were taught was to look for a big idea. That uh when we're that every passage, if you take the time and that you can come up with it with a big idea, uh it was that was tough on this passage. It seems like there's a number of things that he's addressing, and and so what we're gonna do is kind of just walk down through it, and then this is like they say, this is on the second half of the message. But my eyes did focus as I as I was studying this, and and my uh my pattern usually is uh either like the it'd be the end of this week or the beginning early next week, Monday morning. Uh I start looking at the next passage that we're gonna be digging into and and start kind of studying it, thinking it through, and uh and usually real early try to come up with a big idea, and then from that big idea, I come up with the title for the message, and then I shoot that over to Dill, who makes those nice signs that you see every Sunday. And and so that's usually obvious, all takes place pretty early in the week on Monday. Uh and this week, this passage as I've been looking through is kind of challenging, but my eyes did focus. If you look down in verse 19, uh for for whatever reason, as I'm reading down through and second this passage, my my eyes grabbed onto where he says, uh uh that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. And I grew and my eyes grabbed that word refreshing. And I and uh and so I thought, ah, that it just sounds like a good word, doesn't it? It's like refreshing. And and so then I I I kind of started trying to check out the word a little more, look, look at looked at the original language, looked at the Greek, and and found out that really uh a better uh description of what this particular word means is to breathe again. And and that really uh kind of uh struck with me uh because I think I think you know, particularly, and and it was very similar for for these folks at this particular time, but we're in a time right now where you know a good description might be we're kind of always holding our breath, isn't it? You you know, you never you start every day out and you're kind of holding your breath on, okay, what's gonna happen today? What are we gonna hear today? Uh, you know, what what uh what new direction, uh, what uh new battles happening. Uh and and so we we spend a lot of time holding our breath, just kind of like, you know, what's gonna happen. So uh and and then he talks about in verse 19, and there's an allusion to a time in the future, actually, uh called uh in scripture the time the Great Tribulation. And they'll be very similar, they're gonna be holding their breath as to you know what's what crisis is going to happen next, what uh terrible things are gonna take place on the earth, and and so he wraps around what Peter is talking about here, and interestingly enough, and and I'll talk more about this later, that because this is a Jewish audience, so he's speaking to this Jew Jewish audience, and he's saying to them, uh you as Jews are have a whole lot to do with this particular day that's coming in the future when there's gonna be everybody's gonna finally breathe again. Uh and so uh that's where the title comes from, and uh it's funny. So then I start digging in the passage and and uh you know, and about halfway through the week I'm thinking, where did I come up with that name? Breathe again. Because it's not in the and then found out, we looked at the word again, it's like, oh okay, there it is. Uh but anyway, so we're we're in it, we're halfway through this message that Peter is preaching, and like I say, it's a Jewish audience. Uh, they've all come back to Jerusalem to celebrate one of their of three major free feasts where if you were a good Jew, you came back to Jerusalem to be a part of that celebration. So they're back in town for that celebration. This man has just been healed, and and most the people around Jerusalem know this guy. He's he's been around for uh his entire life. He every morning uh he had friends who would carry him to this gate called the beautiful gate and set him there, and uh he would beg for money. That's how he survived. So they've been watching this for years, and so when they suddenly find this guy and he's not just walking in the temple, he's jumping and and he and praising God, and and uh because of the healing that's taken place uh as a result of Peter's words. And then remember the P the people right away start looking at Peter and John and saying, wow, it must be these guys, and they're they're quick to say, no, it wasn't us, it was God, pointing the people to God, and then he moves into this message, and then halfway down the message we come to verse 17, which is where we left off. So let's go back there this morning, Acts chapter 3, verse 17, where Peter says this. Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders, but this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Okay, he's addressing, uh he's been talking, he's been addressing the issue of the cross, and that as Jews, uh there is a they hold a responsibility for putting Jesus on the cross, uh, that that was at their hands, and a lot of the folks in the audience of that day when Jesus was when the trial was going on, and Pilate brought him out before the people and actually gave him an opportunity to choose another man, a Barabbas, and and they refused. They said, let Barabbas free, crucify Jesus, and and he said he's just uh confronted them with the fact that you all did this. You're this is your decision, you were a part of it. And uh you can imagine, and and uh as a as it uh dawns on them that's the case, and then he comes down to this point, he says, but the truth is, and I know it's to be true. He says, I I know that you you did this in ignorance. Uh in fact, and and this is what I was very surprised by this statement. Uh in fact, he says, your leaders uh were ignorant. Pharisees kind of headed this whole thing up, remember? They're the ones that led the charge and and really worked the people up to demand Jesus to be crucified. And and he says, uh, even your leaders did this in ignorance. Uh and and I struggle with that a little bit at first. I had to, it's in the passage, it's in the verse, uh, and and I uh saw it eventually. But first, first thing that came to mind was uh remember, and I've talked about this on a number of occasions, back in John's Gospel, chapter three, he tells about the the time when Jesus was still alive, and one evening when uh one of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, came to visit Jesus. And he did it, it came at night because he didn't want the, I believe, the other Pharisees to know he was there, and that he had this, he's having this conversation with Jesus. And and in the process of the conversations, Nicodemus made this interesting statement. He said to Jesus, he said, We know, and this is all in John 3, you can check it out on your own, we know that you are from God. And he's speaking in uh in in terms of his fellow Pharisees. He says, We we know you're from God. And you're thinking, if you've been if you paid any attention to uh the things leading up to that, thinking, well, then why aren't you saying that? Because that's not what they were saying. In fact, at one point they actually say that he is working in cahoots with Satan, that he he he and Satan are working together. Uh so they're not publicly admitting that, at least, but but Nicodemus uh exposes them to Jesus. He says, now we know you're from God. And how could they not? The miracles he was doing, the things that God was doing through him, uh, that all demonstrated that he was from God. So so I so I thought of that that conversation, and one of the things that uh uh I you know I've always pointed to is they weren't ignorant. Uh they they did know what they were doing, but but here then Peter says, No, uh you were ignorant and your leaders were ignorant, but he's specific about what he's it what they're ignorant about. If you look there, he goes on, as did your leaders. Uh uh but see now now, brothers, you know, I know you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders, but this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold uh through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. So here's where the ignorance falls in. What they were ignorant about, and what caused them to struggle was the issue of the suffering. Uh that's what threw them off. Uh was the suffering. Was Jesus from God? Nicodemus said, yeah, we we know he's from God. Is he the Messiah in the Jewish frame of mind? No, he can't be. Why not? Because the Messiah doesn't suffer. He comes as, according to their prophets, as a warrior, as a conqueror. He comes in power. Not not like this guy, not gentle, not humble, not soft-spoken, etc. This can't be the Messiah. He can't be the Christ. That's what that word Christ means. Uh it means the Son of God, Christ, the Messiah. Uh so he can't, that he can't be the Messiah. He might be from God, he might be another prophet, but he can't be the Messiah because our Messiah comes in power and strength and conquering. And so the struggle was that what what uh where the ignorance came into was the fact that they discounted Jesus uh or maybe accounted to the fact that he couldn't possi he he can be from God, but he can't be the Messiah because he doesn't fit what we've been looking for. And I think this is still uh a struggle today that many have. Uh certainly many who do not know our Lord, who are not followers of Jesus. Uh they aren't followers because uh uh he doesn't live up to their expectations. Or or maybe they you can even some are would say that well, we are a follower of Jesus, but they but only certain aspects of him. Uh not this oh whole salvation message, son of God stuff. Uh they're followers of in the fact that they they kind of pick and choose the parts they about Jesus they like. Uh you know, they is he a good role model? They'd say, yeah, yeah, I'm I I follow Jesus. I I think he's a good role model. Uh it's not a bad thing. Uh and and uh we love the lot of what he said, you know, especially the love parts. You know, we he was really we really uh admired the all the love things he said, and and man, he did, he really elevated the women in that period of time, which he did. And uh so there's so there's a lot of things I'll point to about him and say, yeah, we we like these parts of Jesus, but not that judgment part, not when it when not the Savior Son of God, uh need for payment for sin, uh, or especially when it came to the fact that he that uh where he made those statements about this foolishness about that he was the only way to God. Uh no, there's there's got to be lots of ways to God. He why uh so they so they disregard the parts that they don't like. I was like thinking of that passage actually in that discussion with Nicodemus, and and uh and so and that that's where that very the famous verse comes into play that so many like to quote. We love to quote it where for God so loved the world that he gave his only one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. We love to quote that verse. We won't usually, and they really don't want to move down to verse 18 where it says this whoever believes in him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe in him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. So what that's what goes on is it's pick and choose the parts. And that's what the Jews have done in regard to Jesus and in regard specifically to this issue of uh him being the Messiah. Uh they decided that he can't be that because he doesn't fit what we've been looking for. What we want, uh we want the warrior. We want the, we're tired of living, we've for centuries they've lived under the tyranny of somebody, you know, the the the Egyptians, the Babylonians, now the Romans, and it's like we're tired of this, and we want the warrior to come and physically deliver us in from that. Uh and and Jesus didn't come that way. Uh so what's what has to happen then? Verse 19. Peter says, Okay, I know you said I know you acted in ignorance, so did your leaders. We're regarding Jesus as the Christ, as the one who had to suffer. So what has to happen? Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, and that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. Well, to begin with, you gotta repent. And we talked about that a few weeks ago. In their situation, they have got to repent means to change their mind, change their direction. To begin with, they have got to come to the point where they look at Jesus and and they recognize I was wrong. I was wrong about him. And I am changing my thinking. I now recognize that he was more than just a good person, uh, and and that he in fact was the Messiah, the Savior. And I accept that to be true now. So they had to come to that point. There are a lot of people today that if that they're ever going to come uh to have that breathe again moment where suddenly they're regarding maybe their eternity uh or even the their life, the rest of their life, or they're ever gonna have that moment where they finally can relax and say, okay, no matter what happens, I know I am a child of God. I know that that everything that I know how the story ends. That that breathe again moment. A lot of people, before they can come to that, they're gonna have to come to the place where uh they repent, they change their mind and realize Jesus is the answer. There are not a lot of paths, and I can't pick and choose the way I want to go, or pick and choose the parts of Jesus that I want. Uh uh so that's what they had. This Jewish audience, first of all, they had to come to that point where they changed their mind, and then their sins could be wiped out because then they would recognize Jesus as the Christ, as the Savior who had been sent to them, Jesus. Uh so we talked about this a couple weeks ago. Uh Peter addresses their first need, uh, and in this case, this the Jewish audience of Peter's speaking to, that here's where they need to start. They have to start by changing their mind about him. And it's specifically in regard to this, uh, the the end of the verse, that he may that he may send the Christ who has appointed, who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. They had to change their mind about Jesus, that he was and is the Christ, the Messiah. Uh so what's gonna help them change their mind though? Uh Peter's really smart. This is a uh uh just a wise process because he realizes their problem has been over the centuries is uh they've been looking to the prophets, but they've been picking, choosing which one, what which prophet, or even some of the same prophets, but they've been picking and choosing the parts that they wanted to hear. Which all all of the things that the prophets said about the Messiah were true, but they weren't all true for that moment. Some of the the statements about the prophet, the Messiah were for the future. So he goes into that. He he addresses that. He says, For Moses, what's one of their prophets, said to you, the Lord your God will rise up for you a prophet like me, from among your own people. Remember, like me, Moses was, God used Moses as a deliverer. Moses delivered them from slavery to Egypt. And so Moses says, God's gonna send another prophet someday that's gonna be a deliverer. Uh, and and uh he's gonna come from our people, from the Jews. You must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people. And Moses is specific. He says, There's gonna be a prophet, he's gonna be like me, he's gonna come to deliver you. You gotta pay attention to what he says, you gotta listen to what he says, you've got to do what he says, or else you're gonna be cut off. Uh and and so he's saying, This is serious. You need to watch and pay attention to this. Uh so they're gonna go back need to go back to their prophets. Uh and and and the problem is they, like I said, they picked and choose which prophets they wanted to hear. You know, uh, there are in the Old Testament leading up to Jesus, there are at least 20 major prophecies that do speak about him as a warrior, as a coming king. In fact, more than that, if you add the king into that, uh as a deliverer, uh, and and a del and a and a and not just a deliverer from sin, that's a but the as a future deliverer from uh their enemies, uh, that he's gonna actually set up this kingdom. And so there is, there's a lot of prophecy about that, and those are the ones they liked, so they're the ones they grabbed on to. Uh but but uh Peter says, but there were also the prophets who talked about the Savior, the suffering savior, the humble savior, and he goes on, 24. Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, uh, that's one of their most famous prophets, uh, as many as have spoken and foretold these days, you are the heirs of the prophets and of the covenant of God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, Through your offspring, all the people on earth will be blessed. He takes them back to Samuel, he takes them back to Abraham. We've been looking at the Abraham as the father of the Jews. Uh, but there's a really important phrase in there because he brings us into the picture in this statement, down at the end of verse 25, because when he makes this statement, he said that through Abraham, uh, through your offspring, talking to Abraham, he said, I Abraham, and remember if you were in the uh Christoph's class, there came this point where Jesus sets, or God comes to Abraham and he makes his covenant. And he makes it, it's a one-sided covenant. God doesn't say, Abraham, if you'll do this, I'll do this. No, he says it this way Abraham, I am going to do this no matter what you do. He says two things, a couple things is number one, I'm gonna make your descendants, the Jews, as as the sands on the sea, as the stars in the sky. They're gonna be, can't be, can't be numbered. And then out of your descendants, I'm gonna send someone who will be a blessing to all the people on the earth. That's a res that's a prophecy about Jesus. And so he points them back to their prophets and and to look again and to understand that Jesus is who the who the prophecies were pointing to. That and this suffering, humble savior was the part they missed, and who they needed to rectify and repent and remember and see that he had come as their Christ. And so that was an important moment for them to hear this message. And maybe it's is for us as too. I mean my assumption, two things. My assumption is uh hopefully everyone in this room has already come to terms with who Jesus is, and you've invited him to be your savior. You've asked him to apply his death on the cross to your sins and to the forgiveness of your sins. And if you have, the Bible says you have been adopted into his family. You are one of his children, you have an eternity, a promised eternity, uh it that no one can take away from you and nothing can take away from you, uh, that will be spent with God forever. That's the promise of you. Uh and and uh I hope you've all made that. We've all made that decision. Uh, if not, today would be a really good day to make that decision. Uh but for even for us as followers of Christ, uh, you know, we have a tendency sometimes to pick and choose from the Word of God the parts we like, the parts we don't like. And uh let's be careful about that. Uh be careful that uh we we don't take God and Jesus as we want it, we take it as he is. Uh there's so many things in our lives that he wants to do. He wants us to, he if if, you know, I would say this if we find ourselves in in that spot before we're able to finally breathe again and relax, then we're not we're not trusting. We're not taking God uh based on what he says, because if we were, we would be relaxed. We'd know our God's in control and we would trust him, and so so this applies to us. And and I said, and one other aspect that I think as we close this morning, that uh I I felt like I need to point out this we are in such a and when I say we, I'm not talking about us as believers. I hope it's not uh applying to us as believers, but but we're in a uh as a world, we're in another one of those dangerous times when there is an anti-Jew flavor going around. And one of the things that in this passage and and in so much of scripture that comes true is God still has a special place in his heart for the Jews. I don't want to be on the other side of that, honestly. Uh does now now uh let's be clear about that. Does that mean that everything the Jewish nation does, we have to go along with? No, it doesn't. Any more than everything our own leaders say. You know, there are things that go on in our own leadership and our own where I'm going, no, I can't go along with that. I can't, I, and and so we, yes, we have to be careful. We we're we're not just unabashedly, whatever you'd say, it's great. No, we're not that way. We need to be wise and and uh, but at the same time, uh God's heart is for the Jews. Uh he's prom He promised them that they would come back to a nation, which I think took place in 1948, that they'd have their nation. And what's amazing to me is you look, take that uh uh map of the world out, and you look at that tiny little sliver of land that they have, and they have to fight for it constantly. And and I I God has been fighting for them. There's so many miracles where they should have been wiped out as a nation, where I believe God has intervened and protected them and and uh will continue to do so because he has a plan for them right down to the to the end of the ages uh in Revelation 7. If you have some time, send some time there this and it's talking it's toward the end of the tribulation period, and he talks about 120,000 Jews. In fact, it specifies that there'll be 12,000 Jews from each nation. Uh uh they they don't even remember which nations they're from anymore, but but God knows he has not forgot, and he's gonna pick 12,000 from each nation, and those 120,000 Jews at the end of the tribulation are gonna spread out through the world and point people to Jesus uh and in such a way that Antichrist is gonna despise them and try to wipe them out of face of the earth, but God's gonna intervene and protect them. So, so let's not lose track of and let's pray for the nation of Israel and and let's continue to let our keep our hearts uh focused on them and pray for their salvation. What a what a privilege it would be for if you had the opportunity to live to lead a Jew to the Lord, to point them to their Messiah. Uh so sum it up, breathe again. If you found yourself in in in maybe in your own personal life because things are happening, or in the world of events right now, to your second in breath, and you and you're in that boy, what's you know, when's the next shoe gonna fall fall? Man, you don't have to be there as a believer. I don't have to be there. We can breathe because we know the God who is in control, and the God who sent his own son down to make it possible for us to become part of his family. And if you're part of his family, you got nothing to fear. Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your word, for this opportunity to see your scriptures and for this message that you put on Peter's heart. Uh, and that uh he sensed the responsibility he had to use the situation to point people to Jesus. Lord, that's also our responsibility. Thank you for, we do pray for the Jews and for the nation of Israel. Lord, we pray for their protection, we pray for their leaders that they will be wise, that they'll do godly things that we we can support. And uh we pray for our leaders, Lord, that as we are move through this time of great worldly turmoil, that uh that you will give them wisdom. And Lord, thank you for allowing us the possibility to become your children. And and that knowing that, that you're our Father, the one who is the creator of the universe, we can breathe. Thank you, Father, for that information, that realization. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

We're gonna stand as we close and sing one last chorus. As we do, our prayer team will be coming to the front. If you need prayer this morning, I know they'd be glad to pray with you, pray over you. Uh, I just checked the weather. It's looking like the last of the storms will roll through about two o'clock, and so we should be good to go at three. But again, we'll update you on Facebook and we'll send out an email if anything changes. But for right now, we're scheduled to come out at three. I hope you come, bring some lawn chairs, enjoy early dinner, get some barbecue, and help celebrate with us those who've made that decision uh for Christ. So let's sing this together. Reminder Hearts, we start a new week. Nothing better than the other.