WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:04.320 All right, let's take our Bible and go to the book of Acts, chapter one. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:19.920 Have you ever read a book that stays with you long after you finished it? 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:46.079 You've picked up the book, and the title perhaps had had some interest to you, and you engaged it in the captivating beginning, and you started to walk with it through its long and perhaps even meandering middle until it reached a tension point that grabbed you, the resolution of which you couldn't figure out, until all of a sudden there it was, at the very height of it all. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:54.240 And after that, you began to see everything beginning to coalesce into a resolution. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:01:05.280 And as the pages began to end, you realize that though the story was concluding, the effect of that book wasn't concluding, that it was going to stay with you for a while. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:14.959 And though you hadn't read the book perhaps for many, many years, you still mentally go back to it often because that book is still carried with you. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:21.519 Well, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are those kind of stories. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:31.280 They are messages about Jesus Christ, his birth, his life, his teaching, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.400 And it's meant to be carried with us. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:42.400 But here's what often happens after we read the Gospels and after we discover about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:47.280 We can experience those things as past events. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:53.920 We think about the resurrection on Easter, but something happens between one Easter and another. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:02:03.439 We take what is meant to be placed in front of us and in which we are to be enveloped inside of, and we put it behind us, like it's history. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:14.240 We think that it's a good foundation, but we leave it there beneath us rather than as a living force that is moving us and motivating us. 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:20.319 It's that temptation and that condition that the book of Acts is written for. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:34.879 Because what happened that first day of the week, that day that Christ rose from the dead, that moment when the stone rolled away and Christ arose is not a conclusion and something to be left in the past. 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:42.159 Rather, it ignited something because the resurrected Christ ascended and he is still acting. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:03:03.039 He is still forming his people, and he's still crossing every boundary that humanity has ever raised, and he is still glorifying himself for the good news that spreads everywhere, crossing cultures, crossing centuries, until that day when all of his people will be gathered around the throne. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:16.319 Thirty years after the resurrection, a physician by the name of Luke took up his pen again to write a second volume to show the continuation of what he had started. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:23.520 And he titled, and we understand this book as the Book of Acts or the Acts of the Apostles. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:25.199 That's often how we think about it. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:29.680 But I think by titling it those things, we forget something. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.120 We forget that the story is not about the apostles. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.400 They're simply the instruments inside this story. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:51.759 And the real agent to this story, the one who's opening doors, the one who's turning persecutors into preachers, the one who's crossing all those boundaries, is none other than the risen Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:55.439 And so let's begin our journey through the book of Acts. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:04.319 And I'd like to begin by looking at verse one, because here Luke opens up the second volume with one word that could easily be passed over. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:06.560 Take a look at it. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:14.080 I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:25.199 Luke is telling us here that his whole gospel, the gospel of Luke, was what Jesus began to do. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:36.240 The whole story of Christ's life, his ministry, his crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension was all the beginning. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:42.480 And what follows, the book of Acts, is the continuation. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:52.959 You see, the reason Christ did not retire when he went to the throne of God, he only relocated his work. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.560 And it is from that place that he is operating. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.920 It's from his throne that he's sending his spirit. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:06.720 And he is sending his spirit instead and working through his spirit instead of his own physical presence. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:09.759 And so today we're going to walk through this book. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:16.160 We're going to take a look at it so we can see all of its parts before we dive in deeply into it. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:26.079 And so today we're going to take, I think, a high-level view, a 30,000-foot scan of what is the map of the book of Acts. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:32.240 And this morning I want us to see it in six movements as we progress through these 28 chapters. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:39.759 We won't stay long in each of these, but just enough for us to feel the movements as they go from one to the next. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:42.560 So if you're taking notes, you can follow this. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:44.399 We'll stop at each of these in a moment. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:47.199 I just want to mention them very quickly to us as we begin. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:59.680 The first movement is in chapters 1 and 2, where we see the Spirit creating what the resurrection promises, creating a new community of people who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:05.040 Chapters 3 to 7, we'll see the word speaking through suffering. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:07.759 Suffering witnesses. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.279 Chapters 8 to 12, we'll see the gospel crossing every boundary. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:20.480 Every boundary that humanity has drawn gets crossed by the risen Christ through the gospel. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:30.560 In chapters 13 to 15, we'll see the very center of the book in which the resurrection announces a freedom that the law could never bring. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:49.360 And then in chapters 16 through 20, we'll see the gospel prevailing, not by human strength, but through human weakness, through disappointment, and through, as we'll see in a moment, midnight songs in a jail cell. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:59.519 And then last of all, in chapters 21 to 28, we'll see the gospel arriving at the center of the known world of that day in Rome. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:06.879 The messenger will arrive in chains, but the message he brings will be unchained and unhindered. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:11.680 In the weeks ahead, we're going to look at each of these movements in some detail. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.000 We're going to spend some time with each one of them. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:18.319 We're going to meet every person in the story and understand the shape of them all. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:22.639 But today I just want you to see this map as we look at it. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:38.079 And as we walk through it together, I want to show you one thing above all else that the risen Jesus Christ is the one who is doing all of this work, and he's still doing it now in our day. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:42.319 The resurrection has not run simply in the past. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:45.040 It's not run out of boundaries to cross. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:47.279 It's not run out of consequences. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:50.160 And Luke is not giving us the end of a story. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:53.600 He's telling us a story that's not finished yet. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:55.600 So let's take a look at it. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:58.639 Let's begin with the first movement in chapters one and two. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:02.560 The Spirit creates what the resurrection promises. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:07.680 Acts begins where Luke's gospel ends. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:10.480 It begins in Jerusalem. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:31.759 It begins with a small group of disciples of Christ, people who've experienced Christ's life, death, burial, and resurrection, and who have just spent the last 40 days very, very disoriented as they've heard the risen Christ live with them and speak with them. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:42.639 They've seen Jesus, they've witnessed his resurrection, they've touched his wounds, they've eaten the fish that he made for them. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:52.720 And now here they are, after he's ascended, gathered in an upper room and waiting for something that their imagination can't even begin to comprehend. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.879 And in Acts 2, Acts chapter 2, the day arrives. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:05.200 The day of Pentecost, the day when people from all over the world are gathered together in Jerusalem. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:08.320 And then something happens. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:23.440 The people walk out into the community, and there speaking the wondrous works of God, the people from all over the world are hearing those things spoken in their own language. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:26.399 They can hardly believe it. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:46.320 And by the end of that day, that small little band that was in an upper room gathered together, waiting, now became over 3,000 people who will be marked by the apostles' teaching, by the breaking of bread, by fellowship, and by prayers. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:10:03.279 The day began early as Peter stood in front of the crowds who had gathered to see what was going on, and as they began to draw their own conclusions about what was occurring, he stops them and tells them precisely what's happening. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:14.799 And he says to them, This Jesus whom you crucified, God has raised up, and we are witnesses of his resurrection. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:23.039 And he begins to pour out to them, to this Jewish community, what the theological understanding is of what's happening. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:39.360 And he says to them in Acts chapter 2 and verse 33, that he that is Christ, the risen Christ, the ascended Christ, has poured out that which you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.519 What is he telling them? 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:55.600 You thought that that Jesus that unsettled the crowds, who disturbed the religious community that had opposed those in the religious hierarchy, had been done away with. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:01.120 You thought that by crucifying him and burying him that you had gotten rid of a problem. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:04.080 I want to tell you something, Peter says. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:06.639 That is not the end of the story. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:20.799 The cross is not history, the resurrection has happened, and Christ is ascended, and he is not just gone, he is actually here, and he is doing something right now. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:26.399 And what he is doing is exactly what the prophets spoke about. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:35.360 And so he quotes Joel, in the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:40.000 And so Peter says, This is that. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:46.480 What God promised is being fulfilled right now. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:12:08.720 And so every time a church gathers, every time a church is called into existence, every time a church meets for the word of God and the breaking of bread and fellowship and prayers is an indication that the resurrected Christ is acting from his throne every time. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:15.440 And that means something very significant to us as we gather here. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:32.799 This church was planted over 80 years ago during a time when world war was happening, when some ladies from the edges of Queens came to this place to teach a Sunday school to some children in the White Building just over here. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:37.679 And within just a few months, a church was started. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:40.000 But I want to tell you something. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:45.200 The church wasn't started here because those women decided for it to happen. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:53.039 It happened because the resurrected Christ energized his people, these ladies, to come with a gospel message. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:13:03.440 It energized that church to see beyond the city boundaries to come to this village on Long Island and to share the glorious gospel. 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:25.039 And what I want to say today is that we must see ourselves still in that light, that we are still a people gathered by the resurrected Christ, that we are still a people inhabited by the same Spirit who's working through the gospel to bring life, that we are still a community of grace and truth in Jesus Christ. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:30.639 We're not going to be for the next several months a church that studies the book of Acts. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:35.759 We're going to be a church that's inside the book of Acts. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:41.120 Because what happened then is what's happening now through the risen Christ. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:50.720 And so this journey that we're looking at is not a journey of history, it's a journey of our story and helps us understand where we're at now. 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.039 And it's because of this. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:19.360 And these people, just like the book of Acts, are characterized by awe, they're characterized by joy, they're characterized by grace, and they are a people who are surprised even among themselves of the kind of love that's spread abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.000 Let's move to the second movement. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:23.440 That's chapters one and two. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:26.159 But now take your Bible and go over to chapter five. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:29.120 This one begins in chapter three, however. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:37.200 And the first two chapters talking about the formation of the community are beautiful, but what comes next is hard. 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:42.080 We get into chapter four and we see the word of God spreading. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.720 We see the church growing, but there's also something else happening. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:49.440 Opposition arrives. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:15:05.279 The Sadducees who don't believe in the resurrection at all find themselves confronted by a community that cannot keep quit speaking about one man, Jesus, whom they claim is resurrected from the dead. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:13.840 And so they arrest the apostles, they threaten the apostles, they command them to stop. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:22.000 But the apostles will not stop, because with their own eyes they've seen the resurrected Christ. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:27.279 How could they stop when they've seen him rise from the dead? 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:45.120 And so in Acts chapter 5 and verse 41, after they've been released and warned never to speak about him, they regather with the church, and it says here, they rejoiced that they were count worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the name. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:47.120 Did you hear that? 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:57.360 They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the name. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:02.879 That's a complete reorientation of somebody's life. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:19.840 To be able to take suffering, to be able to take shame, to be able to take the rebuke of people that in the community were held in high esteem, and to find it a touch point of joy and a touch point of rejoicing. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:22.879 What's happened to these people? 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:40.879 Well, what's happened to these people is that they can be sincerely joyful because they watched Jesus Christ Himself suffer and die and yet rise from the dead and ascend into glory. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:51.279 And they know that if the suffering Messiah rose from the dead, this resurrected Christ can take them through whatever sufferings they might face. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:59.600 And so they're glad to be named with him because suffering is not the end of the story. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:05.119 And then in Acts chapter 6, we're introduced to one solitary figure. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:07.599 His name is Stephen. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:11.440 Stephen is a man full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:13.839 He's a deacon, he's not an apostle. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:20.319 He's become in charge of the care of those who have been overlooked inside the community of faith. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:26.400 And he's seized by the religious authorities. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:51.839 He's dragged before the council, and he preaches one of the most sweeping sermons of the whole New Testament, in which he goes all the way back through Israel's history and begins to show how God has revealed himself to the people, and yet, over and over and time of again, they have hardened their hearts to God's gracious activity and the revelation of his truth. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:56.799 And he says, You killed the servants then, and you've killed his servant now. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.400 Well, they didn't take very kindly to that message. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:12.880 And they rushed him outside the city, and they tore off their outer garments, and they picked up stones, and they stoned him to death. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:17.680 And in chapter 7, in verse 55, have a look there. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:27.519 Stephen sees exactly what Psalm 110 had promised. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:36.880 He gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:43.920 That is very much meant to be bringing our minds and hearts back to Psalm 110. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.079 Psalm 110, however, has a distinct difference. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:55.359 Psalm 110 says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:01.920 Here, Stephen at the end of his life sees Jesus standing. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:18.640 In Psalm 110, Jesus is to sit in the place of authority, showing that he is sovereign over all things and will reign over everything, even his enemies. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:23.839 But in Acts chapter 7, Jesus is standing. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:31.920 He's not seated in sovereign authority, he's standing in service. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:41.440 Because the resurrection and the ascension brought us a king who does not forget his people. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:45.680 He does not forget the sufferings of his children. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:52.880 The Lord Jesus Christ stands to receive his child into his presence. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:20:01.440 The death of Stephen is not the end of Stephen, it's the beginning of his resurrection existence forever. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:10.400 And so here Jesus is to receive his servant, to claim victory over death. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:15.759 And again, let me pause for just a moment here. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:26.319 And for us to find ourselves in the middle of this, because we live in a day in which the cultural pressures on our Christian witness are increasing. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:37.440 And when the social cost of being counted as one of Christ's is becoming more and more a day-to-day reality for all of us. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:47.359 But what this passage is telling us is that our witness for Christ does not need the permission of our culture. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:52.160 It does not need the goodwill of those who oppose us. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:57.680 It doesn't need the approval of anyone outside at all. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:04.880 It's a message that will flourish in spite of suffering. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:22.640 That the risen Christ, who is sat at the right hand of the Father, who stands to receive Stephen, also stands in service to all of his suffering children who stand for his name and who bear the cost of his message. 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:26.480 And some of us know exactly what that's like. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:32.319 We know what it is, perhaps not to the level or the degree where we wouldn't be here right at the moment. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:36.880 We haven't died for Christ as Stephen did on that day. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:43.599 But we've been in family contexts where we've had to suffer because of the name of Christ. 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:56.880 We've been in the middle of that when those who are the closest ones to us are in a place where our relationship is the most strained because of Christ. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.759 We find ourselves in a place. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:05.759 Where we might be at work and the door is closed because we name Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:13.359 I remember talking to some men in Russia who talked about the persecution that they faced because of Jesus Christ. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:19.200 And if they did not renounce Christ and embrace communism, they were not allowed to go to college. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:34.720 They could not go to university, which meant that they were given lives of hard, difficult labor instead of perhaps by their giftedness and abilities to be in a spot where they could advance intellectually and contribute at a higher level. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:37.279 Because of Christ, they couldn't even go to college. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:47.519 And they would talk about their fathers and their grandfathers, some of whom were preachers for the gospel, who were sent to Siberia and put into work camps because of the message of Christ. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:54.880 Some of us feel the temptation to be silent because we know what the cost will be if we speak. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:58.480 Some of us have already suffered. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:06.319 When I first came here, there was a dear lady who had come, and her husband did not want her here. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:10.319 And after a while, she refused to allow her to come. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:17.359 And it was agonizing as she pleaded to be able to arrive here and to be here. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:21.759 And eventually he absolutely forbade her to come. 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:29.680 The resurrection does its deepest work for those who suffer on Christ for Christ's name. 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:32.640 And that's what this second movement teaches us. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:35.440 Let's move to the third movement. 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:37.759 Let's go to chapter 8. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:44.640 And here we see the resurrection breaking every human boundary from Acts 8 to 12. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:52.480 Because of the persecution that arose after Stephen's death, the church begins to scatter. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:24:01.680 And wherever they go, they carry a message with them: the message of Jesus Christ who died for sins and rose again from the dead. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:06.000 Philip takes the gospel message to Samaria. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.640 We see that in verse 4 through 8. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:21.359 We also find out a little later in chapter 8 that he meets an Ethiopian government official who happens to be reading the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, and who has a question about it. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:32.880 And as Philip is there, brought into this man's presence, he begins to proclaim that this person in Isaiah 53 is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:40.480 And this man believes, and he carries the message of the resurrected Christ to Africa. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:50.160 In Acts chapter 9, we run into a man by the name of Saul, Saul of Tarshus. 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:55.599 He's going down to Damascus to persecute those who have brought the message there. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:02.960 And on his way, he meets Christ himself, and Christ says to him, Why are you persecuting me? 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:13.039 And the man who is the gospel's greatest opposer in just a short time becomes the gospel's greatest proclaimer. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:20.400 And if there's any doubt about the power of the gospel to change anybody, Acts chapter 9 is the place to read. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:28.400 Because there is a man who completely hated the gospel, now becomes one of its greatest proponents and proclaimers. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.400 And in Acts chapter 10, let's flip over there. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:42.160 And he receives a vision that he doesn't understand. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:49.599 There's a sheet that's descended from heaven and is full of all kinds of animals that the law of Moses says is unclean. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.480 And he hears a voice. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:26:00.240 God says to him, What I have called clean, do not call unclean. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:05.519 Three times. 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:08.960 Peter's, I like Peter. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:12.000 He's one of those guys I call a two by four Christian. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:16.480 Sometimes you need a two by four hitting you before the message sinks in. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:21.200 I'm a two by four Christian too, so I like Peter. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:23.359 He needs it repeated. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:32.160 And he hears this and he's puzzling over what it is, and he's told to go talk to a man who's just come to him. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:40.400 And before long, he's invited into the home of a Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:27:11.680 And as he's proclaiming the gospel to Cornelius, this man, Peter, a Jewish fisherman, a man whose life has been wrapped up in delineating the boundaries between his ethnic and religious heritage and the Gentiles' ethnic and religious heritage, where there was no crossing of the lines, where the promises were for him and his children alone, and his understanding of that. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:28.640 He is now walking into the home of a Roman military official, and he's now proclaiming the Messiah of the people of Israel, and he is shocked to find out that the spirit falls on this man just like it had on him. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:33.519 He can't believe it. 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:35.279 How could this be? 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:50.799 And he says with wonder in verse 47 of chapter 10, can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who receive the Holy Spirit just as we have? 00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:04.160 What Peter was about to discover, and what the rest of the church was about to discover, was that this was God's plan from the beginning. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:18.960 When God called Abraham, some two thousand years before Peter is alive, he said to Abraham, You, in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:31.200 Two thousand years before he walked into Cornelius' house, God announced that the covenant was never meant to stop at the border. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:49.359 Every Gentile that we see in the book of Acts, and every non-Jewish person we see today, and every Jewish person we see today who believes on Jesus Christ are wrapped up in that promise given 2,000 years before Christ. 00:28:50.319 --> 00:29:02.720 A promise that God made before the law of Moses, a promise God made before the temple was ever erected, a promise God made before the nation of Israel was ever delineated as a people. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:08.720 The risen Christ is not improvising when he crosses these boundaries. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:14.640 He's arriving and doing what God always said he was going to do. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:16.799 Reach the nations. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:21.440 Because the risen Christ is not a Jewish property. 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:25.680 It is not a Western civilization property. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:33.039 He is not the property of any culture or any people or any tradition or any nation. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:36.000 He's the Lord of all people. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:53.119 And he's actively engaged in reaching everybody, in calling people from every tribe and every family, tearing down every wall that we as humans have erected, because those things will never stop him. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:54.319 Ever. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:59.519 And again, let me pause for a moment and for us just to find ourselves in this moment. 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:09.680 Just as these Jewish believers had to really wrestle with the question of did this actually mean what God said? 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:24.559 And the answer should have obviously been yes, but they had to wrestle with that and to understand that the boundaries and the borders that they had put up were not the boundaries and the borders that God was going to respect. 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:31.440 That he actually wanted to see himself Lord of all and not just them. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:36.240 So we too have to ask ourselves some things here. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:39.519 And conceptually we get it. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:45.359 We can say faithfully, Jesus Christ is Lord of all. 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:47.680 The gospel is for all peoples. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:52.160 He reaches into every nation, tribe, and tongue. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:31:04.079 But ask yourself, and I'm you don't have to say it to me at all, but ask yourself in the depth of your heart, are there neighborhoods you've kind of marked off as not reachable? 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:17.119 Are there people perhaps walking around our park here behind us that you look at and say, well, that's a different kind of person. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:22.000 They're bringing their religion here. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:34.240 Or perhaps you've met someone at work and you're thinking of an individual there, or perhaps even someone in your own home, and you're saying the gospel won't reach that person. 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:40.240 Um you know, that person might be the very one God's at work in right now. 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:56.720 These people were stopped with that very question, and they had to say, We have been wrong to think that the word of God and the good news of Jesus Christ would not go there. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:10.880 So we need to reorder how we think about those neighborhoods, about those people who look different and act different and talk different and who worship differently than we do at the moment. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:17.599 We need to think differently about that person at work or that family member or that neighbor. 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:24.880 Because God is not at all bound by any border or any boundary. 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:32.559 He does not characterize anybody outside like that, untouchable. 00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:38.720 Let's move to the next section, chapters 13 to 15. 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:42.960 And here we see the resurrection announcing freedom. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:52.319 The church at Antioch at the beginning of chapter 13 sends Paul and Barnabas out on the first missionary journey. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:55.839 And they preach the gospel as they go. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:58.000 And they start in the synagogues. 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:06.640 And we see in Acts them moving from synagogue to synagogue and even outside the synagogues, preaching Jesus Christ. 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:10.160 They proclaim the same message wherever they go. 00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:15.920 And in chapter 13 and verse 38, we get to see a bit of what that message looks like. 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.279 This is what Paul says. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:25.759 Through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:35.519 And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:38.880 What a glorious message that is. 00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:47.119 Yeah, we we love that movie with Mel Gibson where he's crying, Freedom! Right? 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:50.160 This is Paul's message right here. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:53.519 Freedom through this man. 00:33:54.880 --> 00:34:03.680 Everyone who believes is freed from everything that couldn't you could not be freed from by the law of Moses. 00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.160 What is that freedom? 00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:09.039 The forgiveness of sin. 00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:11.679 That's the freedom. 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:15.519 Because on the cross, Christ paid for that sin. 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:25.920 On the resurrection, we see that that death of Christ was accepted, and the verdict is in on all who believe. 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:48.079 Justified, declared righteous in the eyes of a holy God, without condemnation, made a child, given an inheritance, given the hope and the promise of glory, to enter into the presence of a holy God, spotless, without blame, full of joy. 00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:51.199 That kind of freedom. 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:57.119 A freedom not earned, not deserved, but given. 00:34:57.599 --> 00:34:58.239 How? 00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:03.679 On those who believe, on those who believe. 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:08.960 It requires no supplement. 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:15.039 It's not asking for human performance to secure it or to maintain it. 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:21.519 It stands finished by the one who accomplished it himself, Jesus Christ. 00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:25.679 However, let's go to Acts chapter 15. 00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:32.079 The Jewish council has to gather. 00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:36.400 And they're gathering for a very, very important reason. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:44.719 They're not gathering to find out what kind of color the carpeting should be when they make the renovations of the building that they're about to worship in. 00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:47.679 The stakes could not be higher. 00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:57.199 Jewish teachers have traveled to the Gentile churches and they've told the new believing Gentiles something. 00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:00.639 In verse one. 00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:29.760 That they have to be circumcised. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.159 And so the council gathers to take up this question. 00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:40.239 And Peter says it pretty plainly. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:48.400 Why are you trying to put a yoke upon their neck which we and our fathers could not bear? 00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:51.280 Why are you doing that? 00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:57.199 Why are you telling them to carry this burden? 00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:08.400 And he says in verse 11, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the same way they are. 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:23.440 It's not about adding anything, it's the freedom that's announced by the resurrected Christ, that they are adamant to preserve. 00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:30.000 Isaiah talked about it when he prophesied about the Messiah. 00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:41.920 In Isaiah 61, he said, and Jesus picks up these words at the beginning of his ministry: the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he's anointed me to preach what? 00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:47.280 Liberty to those who are captives. 00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:58.320 And Jesus, after he had read that passage, said, Today this scripture is fulfilled before your very eyes. 00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:01.440 Christ came to preach freedom. 00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:02.800 Freedom. 00:38:04.079 --> 00:38:06.480 The gospel of freedom. 00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:12.159 And this is what is being preserved here and being proclaimed here. 00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:28.480 They're telling us something, that the resurrection has made the good news free, that the yoke of performance has been lifted, that the burden of earning a standing before God is gone because of the cross. 00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:33.440 We don't add to the gospel, we don't improve on the gospel. 00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:37.760 We are accepted in the one he loves. 00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:39.920 That's the good news. 00:38:41.280 --> 00:39:05.119 Now let me pause again here for us, because I think there is a tendency sometimes in Christian circles, and not just our congregation, but in congregations all over the world, in which people come into a church and they think that their standing before God is somehow dependent upon how good they do or how bad they do on any given day. 00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:07.679 And they've got this ledger in their mind. 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:16.960 There are the things that I do that are good, and the things that I don't do that I should do, and the things that I shouldn't do that I keep on doing. 00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:26.559 And they think that they're going to take that ledger before a holy God and hope that one day the plus side is bigger than the negative side. 00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:32.559 I have to tell you this: that is not the message of the cross. 00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:34.880 That is not the good news. 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:43.519 This isn't about whether or not you can add up your better days and see that they have more weight than your worst days. 00:39:44.079 --> 00:39:45.920 It isn't about that at all. 00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:54.880 The scriptures say that we are delivered from all things that we could not be delivered from by the law of Moses. 00:39:55.280 --> 00:39:56.559 Did you hear that? 00:39:57.039 --> 00:40:05.760 So all those things that the law prohibits that you say, Well, I'm not doing that, and I'm not doing that, and I'm not doing that, those things cannot save you. 00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:08.159 They cannot deliver you. 00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:12.800 Believing on Christ is the only thing that delivers you. 00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:14.880 Bringing yourself to Him. 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:35.280 But even after we become believers, we can turn that same structure into I'm having a good day spiritually, I'm having a bad day spiritually, God is closer to me on my good days, God's further away from me on my bad days. 00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:37.920 He's your father. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:48.960 And yes, he will care for you just like a father does. 00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:59.840 And there will be days when you will feel the warm sensations of his presence and the promises soak deeply into your soul to your delight through the day. 00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:10.719 And then there are other times where duties or even your own determination, you feel distracted from his presence, but he will never ever leave you or forsake you. 00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:16.719 This isn't about him going, no, not today, buddy. 00:41:17.039 --> 00:41:19.199 No, you did your devotions today. 00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:22.239 Oh, you forgot to pray this evening. 00:41:23.440 --> 00:41:25.119 He doesn't do that. 00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:27.679 He doesn't do that. 00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:42.960 You don't bring your ledger into the days in which you feel closer to God and mark it down because you did your devotions, you did your daily prayer, you spoke about the gospel to the person at work that you've been meaning to talk to. 00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:45.920 And all of a sudden God's saying, Hey, that's great. 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:48.719 I'm gonna let's spend some time together this evening. 00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:50.719 It's not like that. 00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:54.480 We are accepted in the beloved. 00:41:55.039 --> 00:42:05.760 His attitude toward us is not warmer or cooler based upon whether or not we did what we think we should do every day in our spiritual disciplines. 00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:11.599 Let's move on to the next movement. 00:42:12.880 --> 00:42:20.320 The fourth movement tells us that the resurrection announces freedom. 00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:28.000 The fifth movement, in chapters 16 to 20, shows us that the resurrection prevails through weakness. 00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:30.880 I'd like for you to turn to chapter 17. 00:42:33.199 --> 00:42:39.760 Paul begins his second journey as a missionary, taking the gospel now into Europe. 00:42:41.199 --> 00:42:47.039 And in Acts chapter 16, he finds himself in Philippi, and things look good for a while. 00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:59.760 Prayer meeting by the river, he engages, a merchant woman that the Lord opens the heart of and she believes, a slave girl delivered, all looks good. 00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:09.119 But then an angry mob, and then a public meeting, and then a prison cell. 00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:17.280 And yet, even in the middle of that, Paul and Silas are singing. 00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:28.880 They're not singing because they're strong, they're in a prison, they're singing in the middle of weakness because they know in the middle of that dark place that Christ is with them. 00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:44.960 But we get to Acts chapter 17 and verse 5, and we find that Paul begins to bring the gospel forward, and things are troubling. 00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:59.679 Philippi's not just the end of it, he's driven out of Thessalonica, he's mocked in Athens, he's worn down by opposition, he's isolated in his missionary life and journey, and he's tired. 00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:04.400 And he gets to chapter 18 and verse 10. 00:44:06.320 --> 00:44:10.559 And there he is, not triumphant, but worn out. 00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:15.199 Not fearsome as a preacher, but fearful. 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:20.480 And in Acts 18 and verse 9 and 10, he hears something from Jesus. 00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:23.599 Do not be afraid. 00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:29.280 You ever think about Paul being afraid? 00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:33.039 Do not be afraid. 00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:36.719 But go on speaking. 00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:38.559 Do not be silent. 00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:40.559 It probably was. 00:44:41.519 --> 00:44:43.679 Do not be silent, for I'm with you. 00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:48.800 And no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city. 00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:54.480 No, notice what Christ doesn't say to him. 00:44:55.039 --> 00:44:57.440 He doesn't say, you know, you've you've had a good run. 00:44:57.519 --> 00:44:59.280 Why don't you take a vacation now? 00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:01.440 Doesn't say that. 00:45:01.760 --> 00:45:05.599 He also doesn't say, hey, remember your calling. 00:45:05.920 --> 00:45:06.800 Come on. 00:45:07.199 --> 00:45:09.920 Pick up pick pick yourself up and get going. 00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:13.039 He doesn't say that to him either. 00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:15.519 What does he say with him to him? 00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:16.960 I'm with you. 00:45:17.599 --> 00:45:21.679 I have many people in this city that you haven't even met yet. 00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:27.760 And no one's going to harm you because I'm going to send you to those people. 00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:32.719 What is he saying here? 00:45:33.679 --> 00:45:47.199 That God is able to use weak, frightened, even tempted to silence servants when they're tired and worn out and feeling like that they're they're at the end of themselves. 00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:58.639 Because the servant who came to accomplish the salvation of the world did not enter into this world full of power. 00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:01.360 He entered into this world as a baby. 00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:06.159 He entered into this world like Isaiah 52 and 53 talk about. 00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:09.280 He was despised and rejected of men. 00:46:10.800 --> 00:46:28.960 And what Acts chapter 16 to 20 shows us is that the Spirit who energized Christ to be the suffering servant to bring salvation to the world is still working through suffering servants to bring the message of salvation to the world. 00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:32.559 That the gospel is advancing through a beaten missionary. 00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:38.559 That the gospel is advancing just like the pattern that was laid down by Christ Himself. 00:46:39.599 --> 00:46:45.119 That the resurrection prevails, even though the messengers of the resurrection are weak people. 00:46:46.559 --> 00:46:55.119 That God advances his good news through ordinary, flawed, sometimes frightened, and often exhausted people. 00:46:55.840 --> 00:46:57.519 And guess what we are? 00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:03.280 Ordinary, flawed, sometimes frightened, and often exhausted people. 00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:05.119 And guess what? 00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:11.519 God moves through us just like He did Paul. 00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:15.519 Because weakness does something. 00:47:16.480 --> 00:47:25.360 What weakness does is it removes any handhold on human ability or human ingenuity or human achievement. 00:47:26.159 --> 00:47:44.800 And so when the earthquake happens and the doors of all the jail cells open up, and one man cries out of the midst of that earthquake, save me! There's not a single person looking over at Paul going, Boy, what a mighty missionary you are. 00:47:45.920 --> 00:47:47.440 Not a single one. 00:47:48.880 --> 00:47:52.000 Weakness creates the absence of human resources. 00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:59.280 Weakness creates the absence of any human explanation for what's happening. 00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:08.800 And so what does happen, everybody without fail and without reserve and without questions can say, that's God at work. 00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:10.960 That's God at work. 00:48:12.559 --> 00:48:16.800 This morning I sent these words over to Kevin Cooney. 00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:22.559 Because last night when we were talking, he said, I'm being sorely afflicted. 00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:26.880 And so this morning I said, read these words for your encouragement. 00:48:27.199 --> 00:48:32.320 God's not asking you to remember your calling and to stand up and get yourself moving. 00:48:32.559 --> 00:48:42.800 He's telling you, he's got you right where he wants you because he wants to move through you despite how weak you are, despite how hard it is. 00:48:44.079 --> 00:48:45.760 It doesn't matter. 00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:51.440 And so we too should not despise our weaknesses, but embrace them. 00:48:51.760 --> 00:49:01.039 Because through those weaknesses, the scriptures tell us that God is strong and his grace is sufficient to meet us in those moments. 00:49:01.519 --> 00:49:03.519