SPEAKER_00: Hey, uh, like I said, or like Drake said, I suppose, uh, my name is Owen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm on staff here at King's Church.
SPEAKER_00: And like he also said, I believe, our college ministry called the Salt Company.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, where's this?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, where's the salt people?
SPEAKER_00: Let me hear you.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Yep, there we go.
SPEAKER_00: Mainly the dudes, just uh Drake said, Come on, ladies, we gotta get better at this.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we gotta have some salt company pride here.
SPEAKER_00: But hey, uh salt company is going great.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you want an update on our college ministry, like Drake said, we meet every Thursday night.
SPEAKER_00: The spring has been so amazing.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has been blessing it uh in so many ways.
SPEAKER_00: It's like by far my favorite six hours of the entire week.
SPEAKER_00: Uh just hanging out with uh a bunch of uh college students being uh poured into by them and just hanging out worshiping.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we have great groups, connection group leaders, we've got great students in those lead in those groups.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's just the Lord, the Lord is blessing uh, you know, U and T T Dub, NCTC, even NCTC, come on, the Lions.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord loves the lions.
SPEAKER_00: Uh there we go.
SPEAKER_00: We should put that on a shirt.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord loves the lions.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but he's just been blessing.
SPEAKER_00: It's been such a uh a fulfilling thing for me to be around these students, uh, and I love them.
SPEAKER_00: So things are going well.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if you have, you know, if you if you keep asking what how Asalt Company is going, man, I'd love to talk with you uh for more time than you probably want to uh about our ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But hey, my my story with uh salt company uh in King's Church, honestly, it really starts uh about four and a half years ago, and that was when Owen uh was a sophomore in college, and he was going into his sophomore year uh at Michigan State University, and uh I got invited to go to the salt company pancake party uh right before uh school started.
SPEAKER_00: And at the at the time I really thought, hey, I know who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: I've you know been around the church for most of my life, and I went to this pancake party mainly because I was hungry and I wanted free pancakes.
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of that party, this dude in a frat jersey and a backwards hat said, Hey, do you know who Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00: Of course I know who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know who Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and he just completely shared the gospel with me and it wrecked my life uh for the better.
SPEAKER_00: Four and a half years ago, uh, this dude named Drake shared the gospel with me, and it was just the craziest night of my life, you know?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I ended up crying and hugging him uh right in the parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: It was just very embarrassing for me.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was the time that I remember most, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's when it started.
SPEAKER_00: And just at the rest of those three years, four years that I spent uh at that church around those guys, uh the people who were pouring into me, man, they just continued to remind me of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Every single time, man, when I screwed up, and that it was a lot, and when I screwed up, there's just hey, the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching the message of Jesus back back into me, preaching truth and grace to me every single time.
SPEAKER_00: It's what honestly, because of those men that church uh and that message, I can kind of look at myself and go, yep, this is why I'm standing here today.
SPEAKER_00: It's because of faithful people who taught a faithful message to me throughout years.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout years.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning, that was my transition.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, we're going into Acts 3, and we're gonna look at the message that Peter is about to preach to these people.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, last week, if he joined us, uh, Zach uh opened up Acts 3 and he taught the first part uh of this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And basically, if you weren't here, I'll give it a quick rundown.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 1 through 10 is this Peter and John, they walk up, they're in Jerusalem, they walk up into uh the temple because they were gonna pray, preach, I don't know, whatever they were gonna do, they're walking up, and there's this guy that sits out uh outside outside of the temple, right out front of the gate.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, uh he's kind of like, I don't know if you've ever seen Force Gump, he's kind of like Lieutenant Dan, okay?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have too many legs, he can't walk, uh, his ankles are weak, and he just sits out here, he's made a living as a guy who just asks people for money.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He's in a good place.
SPEAKER_00: He's uh by the temple, all the religious people, the people who are supposed to be generous.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so you just sit out there and ask people for money.
SPEAKER_00: Well, when Peter and John rock up to the temple, Peter says, Hey, look at me, and he's expecting money, but what he gets is something that's way more valuable than what he could have expected that morning.
SPEAKER_00: And by the name of Jesus and the power of Jesus, this man is healed, and he gets up and he walks.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does he walk, but he jumps and he praises, he goes into the temple.
SPEAKER_00: It's said that he goes and he just praises the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is a pretty big deal because this dude has never walked in his life.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he has never done this.
SPEAKER_00: Most likely it was from birth that this dude was not able to walk, and this was a big deal that this guy got up, used his ankles, got he got legs, he got his sea legs, and he went and praised Jesus in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is where we kind of pick up this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 3, we're gonna be in verse 11, right?
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a Bible, you can open up to it.
SPEAKER_00: You can look, we're gonna read the rest of the chapter this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a little bit of a ride, but we can do it, I believe.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's what it says, verse 11 of Acts 3.
SPEAKER_00: While he was holding on to Peter and John, this is the guy he just got healed.
SPEAKER_00: He's holding on to Peter and John.
SPEAKER_00: All the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon's colonnade.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter saw this, he addressed the people.
SPEAKER_00: So this guy, he gets healed by Peter and John, and obviously this is gonna cause like some some chaos, some commotion uh within the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: These dudes, they would have known this guy who's just sitting outside the gate, and they would have known that for a really long time he's never been able to walk.
SPEAKER_00: So the people, like Peter says here, or Luke says here in his account in Acts, people were pretty surprised, utterly astonished, amazed at what had just happened, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so amazed that a massive group of people had started to flock around Peter and John and say, hey, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: They hear something going on out in the lobby, and it's like, hey, what is going on out there?
SPEAKER_00: A big group starts to come in, and this is where Peter sees something pretty important.
SPEAKER_00: He sees that the people that are around him, I mean, they're astonished.
SPEAKER_00: They're amazed at what has just happened, but Peter sees something deeper down in their heart.
SPEAKER_00: He sees that they might be amazed, but they're not saved.
SPEAKER_00: They might be amazed at the miracle, but they haven't been changed by the message.
SPEAKER_00: So what he does is he takes the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: There's a necessity for the gospel to be preached in the temple at this moment.
SPEAKER_00: Because the people they don't know it.
SPEAKER_00: So Peter, he rises to the occasion, and what he does is he preaches it boldly, clearly and boldly to a bunch of people who have no idea who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: And before he starts, he really has to get one thing clear, right?
SPEAKER_00: That message, who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: This is what he goes on for for the next however many verses.
SPEAKER_00: He tries to explain this one thing.
SPEAKER_00: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: He's got to make it clear to him.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's gotta make it clear.
SPEAKER_00: And you kind of see it uh in that first part.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, okay, wait, this guy gets healed, and everyone starts like looking at Peter and John like, hold up, what are you guys on?
SPEAKER_00: Like, how did this guy just heal?
SPEAKER_00: And he kind of looks at him and is like, hey, guys, you think you think we did this?
SPEAKER_00: Like, you think it was us, our power, our godliness, the fact that we were hanging around Jesus, that's the reason that that this guy got healed?
SPEAKER_00: He's gotta make something clear.
SPEAKER_00: He says, No, that's not it.
SPEAKER_00: And he makes it very clear.
SPEAKER_00: He continues in verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Says this, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, hey, do you remember that guy named Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Right, just like a couple weeks ago, you know, not not too long ago.
SPEAKER_00: That guy, Jesus, that was walking around, that got crucified, the one that Pilate wanted to set free, but you said, heck no, crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: Like, did you already forget about that guy?
SPEAKER_00: Peter brings up the fact that, hey, Jesus is the reason for this miracle.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that this man can walk is because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Peter has to remind these people about who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: And I think he points out three things about who Jesus is, and I think the reminder is for us today as well.
SPEAKER_00: You can find the first one in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see if you can catch it.
SPEAKER_00: It says, You denied the holy and righteous one and asked to have a murderer release to you.
SPEAKER_00: You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: We are witnesses of this.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first thing that Peter points out to this crowd of people.
SPEAKER_00: The one opportunity that Peter has to preach to these people, he points out that Jesus, he's the perfect Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus is the perfect Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: You can see this back.
SPEAKER_00: You know, let's reread verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: You denied the holy and righteous one.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's holy, he's set apart, different from the world.
SPEAKER_00: He's preaching a message that no one has taught before.
SPEAKER_00: He's righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Right in the eyes of Jesus, he's seen as perfect.
SPEAKER_00: In the eyes of God, he is perfect without sin.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous, walking the narrow path.
SPEAKER_00: And he points it on at you guys.
SPEAKER_00: You guys denied him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the one that you guys called for.
SPEAKER_00: You see this Jesus guy that they were talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Man, he wasn't just another guy.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't just another guy from history that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you know he got killed for it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there are people who disagree fundamentally on who Jesus is, right?
SPEAKER_00: Particularly the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: Man, they just think, hey, you know, he was a good prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Man, he was a teacher.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he had some good values.
SPEAKER_00: He was not the son of God, though.
SPEAKER_00: They banked their life on that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: There's a pretty prominent uh you know voice in the Jewish world, politics, and religion today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh his name is Ben Shapiro.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you've seen him on Instagram.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he says when he's asked, hey, who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Because, man, they're just trying to figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: He says this, I think Jesus was a Jew who tried to lead a revolt against the Romans and got killed for his troubles.
SPEAKER_00: That's all it is.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He says that about Jesus now, but this is the same thing, the same thought that all these people would have had about Jesus at the time in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: They thought, hey, you know, yeah, he he he he his name was Jesus, he was a Jew, and you know what?
SPEAKER_00: He said that he was God, right?
SPEAKER_00: Back in like Jewish law tradition, man, if you make a claim like that, that's called blasphemy.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can't just say that you're God, okay?
SPEAKER_00: You'll get killed for that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: And they think, hey, he did get killed for it.
SPEAKER_00: Big whoop.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: No, that is not that is not what happened, not at all.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, according to Peter, according to John, according to Paul, according to the prophets, this is that he was the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: You can see this in Colossians 1.
SPEAKER_00: Paul puts this in a beautiful way in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: He says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for everything was created by him in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
SPEAKER_00: Right, it keeps going on saying that.
SPEAKER_00: That Christ, that he is the head of the church, he's the first, he's the last, he's at the beginning, he's at the end.
SPEAKER_00: And God, he pleases that his fullness would dwell among his people in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been around the church for a long time, or maybe this is, you know, your first time stepping into one, Jesus is not another guy in history.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just another Josh Moe.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He is the holy, he is the righteous one, the one that's set apart, not tainted by sin.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter, he's pointing this out for a very specific reason.
SPEAKER_00: It's a very significant reason as well.
SPEAKER_00: Because it has implications.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that these people just denied Christ has implications for everyone, for their hearts, for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Giving up Jesus to the Romans, yelling for his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's rejecting God, denying him, sinning against him.
SPEAKER_00: King's first, I mean, who Jesus is has not changed in the past 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00: And even though he may have been crucified 2,000 years ago, we are still just as much responsible for his death as the people in Acts 3 are.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we might not be the ones that are screaming out, yelling to crucify him as we're standing, you know, next to Calvary and we're screaming out for his death.
SPEAKER_00: But our sin is just as responsible for it as theirs was.
SPEAKER_00: Their sin back then might have had implications.
SPEAKER_00: Our sin today still has implications.
SPEAKER_00: Eternal ones.
SPEAKER_00: Every time that we choose the sinful desires of our flesh, the sinful desires of the world, we're basically no better than the people screaming, crucifying.
SPEAKER_00: We're no better than the ones nailing him to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Peter in verse 15, he reminds these people of what they've done.
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty, it's pretty out there, it's pretty direct, straight to the point.
SPEAKER_00: He reminds them, hey, you guys traded the source of life for death.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, death.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You traded Jesus, the one who gives life for Barabbas, a rioter and a murderer.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gives life.
SPEAKER_00: Barabbas takes it.
SPEAKER_00: You wanted death more than you wanted life.
SPEAKER_00: Believe it or not, church, we face the same decision today.
SPEAKER_00: The same decision.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna choose life in Jesus or death in this world.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, can we look at it like the last week?
SPEAKER_00: Even just the last week of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: What's the summary of it?
SPEAKER_00: Have we been choosing Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Life in Christ or death in this world, fellas, have we been chasing Jesus or are we chasing after the ladies on Instagram?
SPEAKER_00: Or are we finding security in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: In who he says we are, or are we finding security in the paycheck that hits the bank account at the end of the month?
SPEAKER_00: Are we seeking the approval of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Are we seeking the approval of the boss, trying to live up to the expectations that he has for us?
SPEAKER_00: Guys, newsflash.
SPEAKER_00: We're not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: I know this.
SPEAKER_00: We're not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: It's been pretty somber for the past couple minutes, and I know that, but the human condition has not changed.
SPEAKER_00: Sin still affects us.
SPEAKER_00: We might not be ruled by it, but we are still a sinful people in need of a savior.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, when we sin, when we choose our sin, we are rejecting Christ right now, in 2026.
SPEAKER_00: When we sin, we're sinning against God Himself, and that requires reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: When we sin, there's a gap that forms between God and humanity.
SPEAKER_00: God cannot be in the presence of anything that is not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: We are imperfect, tainted by sin.
SPEAKER_00: And for those of you that are feeling like, okay, well, shoot, uh, I guess I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like I've sinned this week.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I'm eternally separated from God.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, don't worry.
SPEAKER_00: There's hope.
SPEAKER_00: There's hope for the hopeless.
SPEAKER_00: There's peace for the restless.
SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna lead me into our second point and Peter's second point this morning.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus might have been the perfect son of God, but he's also the prince of peace.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the prince of peace.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's continue in the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pick up in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says this says, and now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.
SPEAKER_00: In this way, God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, repent, turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is the good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Right here.
SPEAKER_00: But if your spirit is feeling restless, overwhelmed by the weight of your sin, by the weight of this world, I mean, this should be a big sigh of relief for you.
SPEAKER_00: Like, okay.
SPEAKER_00: He's the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: Before Jesus even walked on this earth, Isaiah speaks to Israel saying, Hey, a prince of peace is coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: We kind of see this uh peace aspect in a couple different uh ways, almost like a two-pronged peace, right?
SPEAKER_00: We get our first uh you know, avenue of peace is a vertical one between God and in between humanity, and the second one is almost between uh a horizontal one between us, the people around us, us on earth.
SPEAKER_00: We get two forms of peace.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one that Peter addresses is this vertical one.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can kind of look and see it in uh the text here in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Therefore, repent, turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: The truth is short, man, but it cuts deep in this very scenario.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, Peter, he's not lying here.
SPEAKER_00: He's being for real when he says, Hey, your sins can be wiped out.
SPEAKER_00: They 100% can be wiped back.
SPEAKER_00: Turn from your sin, repent, turn to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who wipes you clean.
SPEAKER_00: His blood is the one that makes us white as snow.
SPEAKER_00: Or you can almost think of it like uh like a whiteboard.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm sure some of you college students see whiteboards these days.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, maybe not.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, teachers, you know, you definitely use whiteboards.
SPEAKER_00: Man, imagine if every single sin that you've ever committed in your entire life, let's say we had a big whiteboard right here, and it says, Owen, okay, Owen did this, this, and this, the date where you were, who was against.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that would be pretty awkward, okay, for me, because y'all are seeing that.
SPEAKER_00: But imagine if it was you, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Your sin up on this board, and it's every single one, that would be overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: That would also be very embarrassing.
SPEAKER_00: And you probably would never come back if we did that.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But imagine everything that you've ever done on a whiteboard for you to see, and then erased.
SPEAKER_00: Off the whiteboard, gone.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what it says.
SPEAKER_00: You're an act wiped away.
SPEAKER_00: Forever.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's not like it's not like whiteout, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh we had to use whiteout a little bit in uh uh elementary school.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it was terrible.
SPEAKER_00: I hated using whiteout, okay?
SPEAKER_00: You you screw up uh writing your essay and you gotta get the whiteout and go over it.
SPEAKER_00: But it's just it's just messy, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's messy, you can't really write over it, it's still uh kind of lumpy.
SPEAKER_00: You can see it, uh, the stain of it is still there.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's not what what Peter is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: There is no messiness from the sin.
SPEAKER_00: You're not tainted by sin anymore in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You're wiped clean.
SPEAKER_00: The relationship between you and God, the gap has been crossed.
SPEAKER_00: It's been closed.
SPEAKER_00: We can have a relationship with God now, be in his presence, dwell in the spirit, be wiped clean from the sin in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wipes our sin clean.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we just sang about it all this morning so far.
SPEAKER_00: And I love that first song.
SPEAKER_00: And it says that Jesus, he paid the price for me, full the pardon that he has offered, and great the welcome that I receive.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not in the business of giving half pardon.
SPEAKER_00: He gives full pardon that frees us from our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, there's someone in this room today that I'm convinced that needs to hear this.
SPEAKER_00: Someone just weighed down by the weight of sin.
SPEAKER_00: They have no idea what to do.
SPEAKER_00: They feel like they can't even breathe.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this gift is free.
SPEAKER_00: It's free in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you to take it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: God is the Prince of Peace between us and God the Father, but he also gives us a peace that's almost horizontal here on earth.
SPEAKER_00: You can kind of see this in verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: It just says, we'll reread it.
SPEAKER_00: That seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, to a lot of people in this room, I'm assuming that's like pretty intriguing.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay, you know, we get seasons of refreshing.
SPEAKER_00: You know, students, you guys were just on spring break, you still have a few hours left of it.
SPEAKER_00: You should enjoy it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Newsflash.
SPEAKER_00: When you graduate college, spring break, not really a thing in corporate America.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so you gotta just enjoy it while you have it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and sometimes, man, life can get hard, right?
SPEAKER_00: Everyone with kids is like, yep, life can get hard.
SPEAKER_00: I might not know what it's like to have kids yet, but I know life is hard.
SPEAKER_00: Trust me, I have plenty of friends.
SPEAKER_00: People who are just uh, you know, go to work every day.
SPEAKER_00: Man, life can get hard.
SPEAKER_00: You know, bills start to rack up.
SPEAKER_00: Owning a house is expensive.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, owning a car is even more expensive, it feels like.
SPEAKER_00: Life can just build up, trying to keep up with the expectations of your boss.
SPEAKER_00: Your son might have 17 travel baseball uh practices every week that you're trying to fit in, and it's just overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're just trying to go on a date with your with your spouse, and it's like, we can't even find time for this.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, relentlessness and fatigue.
SPEAKER_00: Man, they set in.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I might not know what it's like to uh have a kid in travel baseball, but I know what it's like to have a boss that has unrealistic expectations.
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, my boss.
SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_00: That that's that's a joke.
SPEAKER_00: Zach, he's great.
SPEAKER_00: Zach is my boss, he's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Please don't fire me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh anyway, I I man, I can relate to this feeling of fatigue and exhaustion.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, back in college, uh, I ran at uh the Michigan State University, the best university in the world, and I ran cross-country in track and field there, and it was amazing, right?
SPEAKER_00: All through uh middle school and high school, man, I ran cross-country.
SPEAKER_00: I did the baseball thing for a little bit, and then junior year I decided to do to do track, and it was fun, right?
SPEAKER_00: I got to be around my friends.
SPEAKER_00: But man, once you get into college, things just get elevated a little bit more, okay?
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden it's like, okay, we are like really serious about this thing.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I was I'll I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00: But that man, there was times where it was just hard.
SPEAKER_00: Hard on the body physically.
SPEAKER_00: It meant mentally, emotionally, it's like, man, it's sometimes it's just hard.
SPEAKER_00: On average, we were running about 16 miles a day.
SPEAKER_00: We were we were lifting two times a week, which for me at the time was a lot, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I had like never lifted in my life, but we're lifting two times a week, and it was just hard.
SPEAKER_00: I I couldn't even imagine what it was like for the guys who actually had a degree.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I I was a communications major, so it's like if you can like talk to people, it's like you're already passing, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But for the people who had like engineer degrees and uh accounting and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, hey dude, I don't know how you're doing this.
SPEAKER_00: But it was basically like, I was majoring in school.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty much what or majoring in in cross country.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty much what it was like.
SPEAKER_00: But I remember this one Saturday.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we we do our long run on Saturday morning and we went back, took a nap, didn't eat for some reason.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and then we're like, oh my gosh, we're starving.
SPEAKER_00: So we go to Chick-fil-A, and it's like the best.
SPEAKER_00: I just get to sit down.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I'm not comparing like Chick-fil-A to God's presence at all, but it was like the closest thing that I had gotten to that day was just sitting down in that Chick-fil-A, ordering like 2,500 calories and just like hammering it.
SPEAKER_00: And it was the best.
SPEAKER_00: It was kind of like, man, a season of refreshing for Owen.
SPEAKER_00: After a long day, man, just to sit in that Chick-fil-a and just be blessed by the Lord's chicken.
SPEAKER_00: A season of refreshing for Owen.
SPEAKER_00: No matter what's going on in your life, man, being surrendered to Christ and being surrounded by the Spirit gives you a season of refreshing that nothing else can give you.
SPEAKER_00: But that's what it says in verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God gives you a refreshing that nothing else can.
SPEAKER_00: Love in peace that you can't get anywhere else.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to Colossians.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this in chapter 3, just a few verses down the road from what we just looked at.
SPEAKER_00: Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity, and let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts, and be thankful.
SPEAKER_00: The love and peace that we feel in the sacrifice of Christ is a love and peace that overflows into every aspect of our life.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: Only can Jesus offer us the peace that makes us sing in the storm, calms us in the chaos, and ultimately gives us victory when we're in the valley.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's finish this, finish this thing off.
SPEAKER_00: Go back to Acts 3 real quick.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna end our time the same way that Peter ends this sermon right here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can kind of pay attention as we read this to who Peter decides to call back on.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's our last reminder of who Jesus is, and it lies right here.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me among your brothers.
SPEAKER_00: You must listen to everything he tells you, and everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the God from the people.
SPEAKER_00: In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days.
SPEAKER_00: You are the sons of the prophet and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: Saying to Abraham, and all the families of earth will be blessed through your offspring.
SPEAKER_00: God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.
SPEAKER_00: So how Peter ends it.
SPEAKER_00: And in this final section of his sermon, everyone gathered around.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Yes, Jesus is the perfect Son of God, He's the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: Peter calls back to what these people would have known best their history, the people that they would have looked up to to point out one thing.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus is the promised savior.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Moses and Abraham, they kind of make their way into this conversation, uh, not willingly, because Peter brings them up, but for a very important reason.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, by doing this, Peter is showing the crowd that his all it has always been about Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_00: From the very beginning, from what uh Abraham, from what Moses, uh, even all the prophets uh have said, hey, it's about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can go back just a couple verses, and we even saw this kind of uh teased at a little bit in 18.
SPEAKER_00: It says, in this way, God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets, right?
SPEAKER_00: Emphasis on all, because all the prophets were speaking about one person, and that person was Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: A king who would come from the line of David, be a savior for the people.
SPEAKER_00: Samuel, Jeremiah, Jonah, Ezekiel, all those guys.
SPEAKER_00: If those don't convince you, if you read those and you're not convinced, man, you should read Isaiah 53.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me that's not about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You might understand, okay, yes, I understand.
SPEAKER_00: It's about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But like, why bring up all of these guys in the first place?
SPEAKER_00: It's like they're so old, they're so back there.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, what's the point?
SPEAKER_00: And the point is, it goes back to his initial heart, Peter's initial heart for these people.
SPEAKER_00: That they might have been amazed, but they weren't saved.
SPEAKER_00: They missed the point.
SPEAKER_00: They missed out on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They're not saved.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes back, he goes back to what they know.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They would have been studying up on these guys and memorizing the words, reading the scriptures of uh how Moses brought all the Israelites up out of uh up out of Egypt in slavery, and how Abraham was was the blessed one, and you know how Emma sacrificed Isaac his son, and it was just uh a great statement of faith.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they would have known all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: And they would have looked at them as celebrities, as people to look up to.
SPEAKER_00: You can kind of think of it like like modern-day athletes, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I had to look up last night.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time the Cowboys won a Super Bowl?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't mean to like bring it up, but man, 1998.
SPEAKER_00: And there were some absolute doggers on that team.
SPEAKER_00: Emmett Smith was uh, you know, Yellow's running back.
SPEAKER_00: He was he was crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Troy Aikman, you had Michael Irvin on that team.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, those guys were good, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And they won a Super Bowl for it.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I could say that about the Cowboys today.
SPEAKER_00: I really do.
SPEAKER_00: But it just not just not the case, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm assuming most guys, maybe, you know, probably some ladies too, in like the Texas region, probably know who those guys are, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because they've done something great.
SPEAKER_00: They've done something, they mean they want a Super Bowl for the Cowboys, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Big deal.
SPEAKER_00: And what Peter does is he goes back, he says, hey, look at what these guys did.
SPEAKER_00: You realize we've got a greater Moses here.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a greater Abraham here.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, a greater Moses is here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus may not have led the Israelites out of Egypt, but man, he's leading everyone out of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Out of slavery to sin.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, they were slaves to the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_00: Man, y'all are slaves to sins.
SPEAKER_00: He's leading you out of it.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham might have been blessed.
SPEAKER_00: He might have almost sacrificed Isaac as a statement of faith.
SPEAKER_00: But you know who's blessed beyond that?
SPEAKER_00: Who's blessing every nation, tribe, and tongue?
SPEAKER_00: Man, that's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You know who didn't almost who almost wasn't sacrificed?
SPEAKER_00: You know who was sacrificed?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The Father sent his son to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: He is the better Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: He is the better Isaac, the one who did die, the one who was sacrificed for the people.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd meant they missed it.
SPEAKER_00: They missed it.
SPEAKER_00: I really hope some of us wouldn't miss it here.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we might be uh beyond uh you know 2,000 years later from when this was happening.
SPEAKER_00: We might be on this side of the cross, but man, I hope we wouldn't miss Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I don't know if y'all have read past Acts at all.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but hey, Jesus is gonna come back.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: He'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: He's coming back for us.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in Revelation 1.
SPEAKER_00: It says, look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.
SPEAKER_00: So it is to be amen.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord, the Lord God, the one who is, who was, and is to come, the Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the promised Savior, who would die on a cross for our sins, reconcile our debt with God.
SPEAKER_00: But he's also the King of kings, who's coming to reign eternally.
SPEAKER_00: He's coming back for us.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I pray that you guys would not miss the importance of that.
SPEAKER_00: We should not miss the message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's coming back for us, even for the ones who pierced him.
SPEAKER_00: You can see that in Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how beautiful connection there.
SPEAKER_00: Peter just calls out these people.
SPEAKER_00: You're the ones who crucified him.
SPEAKER_00: Yet John in his revelation says, Jesus is coming for those who pierced him.
SPEAKER_00: The message stays the same.
SPEAKER_00: The message is of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The one who gives hope to the hopeless and peace to the restless.
SPEAKER_00: I beg that you guys wouldn't miss this because the consequences are eternal.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's how I want to end this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Just kind of talk to two separate people in the room.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this is, you know, one of your first times in church.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're not really sure about this whole Jesus guy.
SPEAKER_00: And you say that you're, you know, you're an unbeliever.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'd say to you the invitation is there.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's sermon is this is the same as mine.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I'm I'm not really that crafty.
SPEAKER_00: I just said what Peter said.
SPEAKER_00: The message of Jesus stays the same.
SPEAKER_00: That at one point we were separated from God in our sin.
SPEAKER_00: From Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: All the way at the beginning of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we were separated from him.
SPEAKER_00: We feel the weight of that in our world today.
SPEAKER_00: Turn on the TV.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see the consequence of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Wars, cancer, disease.
SPEAKER_00: World events.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we're broken people living in a broken world.
SPEAKER_00: Yet Jesus came.
SPEAKER_00: He's the holy and the righteous one, set apart, unstained by sin.
SPEAKER_00: Lived a life perfectly as fully God, fully man, to die death for these people, the ones who pierced him, you and me, that we would be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Have an eternal life with him.
SPEAKER_00: Have a relationship with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Being able to shout, holy, holy, holy for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a believer in the room and you're feeling way down by the world right now.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: May you just end his spring break, your kids are in the house.
SPEAKER_00: For all you accountants is tax season, you might hate your job.
SPEAKER_00: Man, peace.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe would you dwell in that?
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that He gives you the peace that only He can offer.
SPEAKER_00: He calms the storm.
SPEAKER_00: He allows us to sing in the storm.
SPEAKER_00: He calms us in the chaos.
SPEAKER_00: He gives unity to us.
SPEAKER_00: A beautiful life.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing Him and loving Him.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we see this so much.
SPEAKER_00: In this time for our job, for Carla and I, as we uh kind of move into the spring season, we open up applications for student leadership, and we've been reading those, and it's been great.
SPEAKER_00: We love it.
SPEAKER_00: This is like the busiest time of the year for us.
SPEAKER_00: But we just see stories, stories after stories, and I've been reading them this week, and they're great.
SPEAKER_00: If you're asking, hey, how's God moving in Insult Company right now?
SPEAKER_00: I would just say, hey, you should just read a couple of these.
SPEAKER_00: I won't let you, but um I I can tell you about it and say, hey, there are people, students, who are coming to university looking for something else.
SPEAKER_00: Right, looking to find fulfillment in the party, looking to find fulfillment in a degree so they can go to a job that they're just probably not going to like too much.
SPEAKER_00: They come to college for that, yet they find something even better.
SPEAKER_00: They find something that fulfills them more than a piece of paper ever will.
SPEAKER_00: They find something that fulfills them even more than any drink can fulfill them.
SPEAKER_00: They find Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They find the perfect Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: They find the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: And they find their promised savior.
SPEAKER_00: That's how the Lord's been changing our ministry, changing our city, changing our campuses, changing our apartment buildings and our dorms.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that's how it would change our church.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, this morning where we're able to be blessed, Lord, by some sunshine, some warmth.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that that would just be a reminder of your goodness, a reminder of the gifts that you give to us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we go from here, would you just put it on our heart?
SPEAKER_00: That we'd be reminded the way that Peter reminds the crowd in Acts chapter 3 that you are the perfect Son of God, that our sin has consequence, that there is an eternal significance to our sin.
SPEAKER_00: That when we do sin, we mean we're rejecting you.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, in your grace, you did not leave us there.
SPEAKER_00: Leave us in our shame.
SPEAKER_00: That you came for us, you passionately pursued us to know us, to love us, to save us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we live in that peace today, tomorrow, for the rest of the week.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we'd be able to look to the future, knowing that, yes, the promised Savior has come.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna come again for us.
SPEAKER_00: That no one will thirst, there'll be no tears.
SPEAKER_00: There'll only be perfection.
SPEAKER_00: Spending eternity in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would that be our hope?
SPEAKER_00: Would that be what drives us?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.