Introduction
When I was a kid, we had hybrids stuff all the time. It usually came our of Dad’s garden. The best hybrid I remember was silver queen corn. Man do I love that stuff when it is fresh and you are shucking it and cutting the corn worm out of the end of the ear. Then you cook it, butter it and oh yeah. You get to eat it. If you like it cooked even better, put it in the husk in water for about ten minutes and then lay it on the grill and let it steam in the husk.
But, enough about corn Oh wait.
1 question: When you eat corn on the cob how many of you eat it by turning the cob and going around? How many eat it using the typewriter motion going across.
Enough about corn, Hybrids today refer to cars and guess what they do.
They run on a combination of fuels like gas and electricity or gas and corn, hey, corn Alcohol.
Describing the Biblical Text
The Chapter that we are seeing here is actually the beginning of the third section of the book of Acts as the church is beginning its spread to the utter most parts of the earth.
Peter goes to Caesarea which is about 4 miles or so north of Joppa which is on the Israeli coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
As we looked at Peter’s travels last time, we saw him go to Samaria which for all intents and purposes was a Jewish style of type of province since they still held to the Law of Moses.
But now he is going to Caesarea, a Roman city in Israel.
This is where we will see him encounter Cornelius and again be present when the Holy Spirit of God is poured out from heaven signifying the Gospel is for all people and that people can be converted from every tongue nation people and tribe.
Narrate the Contextual application
The implications for us are certainly intense in this passage.
We are seeing the gospel move from being an essentially Jewish message to being a message that changed the lives of people all over the world.
What we might find interesting here is Luke’s chronology in the book of Acts.
We have the conversion of the Samaritans in chapter 8 and then the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in chapter 9 and them the conversion of the Gentile Cornelius in chapter 10.
We certainly see the groundwork for the worldwide expansion of the Gospel, don’t we?
It is amazing how just one person coming to Christ can make so much of a difference.
It took Cornelius to make conversion a normal thing for gentiles and it took Saul, later Paul, to spread that word to the known civilized world.
Life Application (thesis)
You see, what was happening here was the very thing that Jesus said would happen in Act 1:8.
You shall be witnesses unto me in both Judea and Jerusalem Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
This was a clarion call to the church at Jerusalem that they would not be the sole church but rather the church would exist for the remainder of the age and it would exist throughout the world.
The church would exist in many places and believe it or not, would take many forms.
Maybe if a series on the church we can look at that but today we will stick with our expansion of the church via global warming.
It is our responsibility to share the gospel with every creature no matter who they are.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
You know what you can’t do?
You cannot start your hybrid without you got a set of keys.
This morning, we are going to look at 3 keys to help us understand how we will see new ways and opportunities to share Christ.
I must be seeking the transformation of my own life.
In Romans 12, we are told to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Interestingly enough, it is the way we think that determines who we are by what we do.
Jesus said that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him but rather that which comes out.
IOW what you say is what can destroy you because it comes from the heart.
Peter was still conformed to his Judaistic ideas of thinking and if you don’t believe he had trouble overcoming that, read the book of Galatians in the NT and see how Paul had to rebuke him over it.
Peter the Jew is in Joppa and he stops for a bite to eat. Suddenly he falls into a trance and has a vision.
A large sheet is lowered from heaven and it has all kinds of animals on it.
You figure it had to have a pig and maybe a rabbit, a couple of nice meaty lizards, an owl or a hawk, and who knows, maybe even an oyster or a lobster.
It certainly had unclean foods for any good Jew.
Peter was not about to partake.
This was even after the Lord gave Him the instructions to kill and eat.
Peter simply said, “No way.”
Peter saw this vision repeated 3 times and we know he received the instruction to call nothing unclean that the Lord had cleansed.
Peter did not understand what it meant.
But the men of Cornelius house found Peter and took him back to Cornelius the next day.
That is when the meaning of the message became clear to Peter.
Look at verse 28.
Peter was not to call any person unclean or common.
Peter went from being a thinker that the gospel for only for his kind of people to thinking that the gospel was for the entire world.
A second key to remember is this.
I must be searching for God’s opportunities.
It is amazing how God’s opportunities will come our way if we are simply waiting and listening for God to speak.
Before His Joppa vision, Peter had gone to Lydda, a city near Joppa and was preaching there and had actually performed a miracle healing there and many people came to the Lord.
Well, a member of the church in Joppa, Tabitha, died so the brothers and sisters there sent to Lydda where Peter was for Peter to come.
Lydda and Joppa are about 15 miles apart. So Peter struck a trot and went to Joppa and prayed over Tabitha and she was raised from the dead.
So Tabitha Died to bring Peter to Joppa so that Cornelius’ men could find Peter in the home of Simon the Tanner.
Everything there just sounds like it is so random yet it takes only a few small circumstances coming together at the right time to create a huge event.
A low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico, an arctic cold front plowing down from Canada, a huge dip in the Gulf Stream carrying the low up the coast, And voila you have a blizzard.
It is amazing how an opportunity can be in the smallest of circumstances.
But we have to be looking at them as opportunities.
We might simply look at our circumstances and our situation as being a matter of fate or fortune and never ever see the opening or the closing of Doors that God has intended for us.
Opportunity does not always knock.
Sometimes it waits outside to see if we are going to open the door.
Sometimes opportunity just rides by seek for us to chase it down.
But, very seldom is opportunity standing by or knocking if you will seeking us.
In life, a regular question that we ought to be asking is, “What does God want me to do?”
What has God prepared me to do?
Have I been faithful in following Him to both find and to take the opportunities before me?
I think if we were honest with ourselves, the answer to that question would be no.
Mostly we look for opportunities to find us.
We seldom want to go out of our way to find what the Lord wants for us to do.
Back up just a second into chapter 9:32
Peter could have been content right in Jerusalem and I am sure that he would have found many people needing to hear the gospel.
But, He went looking for opportunity.
When he looked for opportunity, opportunity found Him.
A third key that we can see this morning is this.
I must be sharing God’s word with others to drive hybrid beings.
We all know that a hybrid is a mixed sort of thing.
Cornelius was a gentile who was receiving the good news that was expanded out of Judaism.
He and his house were the first gentile converts that would receive the Holy Spirit in power.
But every person who receives Christ is a hybrid being.
We are sinners scorned and shamed by our sin.
We are wretches without the fear of God and without the knowledge of God.
We are pitiful beings.
Then God Grace comes and makes us alive together with Christ.
His grace infuses us with new life and a new attitude about life because we have a new relationship with God through His son Jesus.
Look at Acts 10:34
Do you see here that Peter simply preached Jesus.
We can do that.
We can tell the story of Jesus.
That is the only thing that will make a difference in people’s lives.
God’s Spirit does not empower the HP Enterprise to convert people.
He does not move in eh works of William Shakespeare to bring followers of Christ in the Kingdom.
God’s Spirit works through the story of Jesus for the gospel is the power of God to salvation for all who believe.
The salvation of God is revealed in the story of Jesus.
Look at verse 44.
I am ready to be amazed as God pours His Spirit our on those with whom we share his word.
Are you?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Fathers Day -- Exodus 12:25-28 -- Teach Your Children Well
Introduction
Introductory video
I hope that one day my girls will thank me for their spiritual heritage.
Describing the Biblical Text
Egypt has suffered several plague because Pharaoh's refusal to release the Israelites to go into the wilderness and to sacrifice to God.
Now, a tenth and final plague has been announced and Moses has passed the information on the people.
The final plague will come to be known as the Passover as God will judge the Egyptians by sending the angel of death to claim the firstborn of each family.
It will be celebrated for time immemorial including in the death of Christ as we partake of the Lord’s Supper.
Narrate the Contextual application
But, included in the description of the Passover is a reference to our heritage as followers of God in that the instructions for passing on the celebration from generation to generation are included.
The Passover was such a vital part of the Hebrew faith that I know of one OT Scholar that actually begins his teaching odf the OT with the book of Exodus.
This vitality and understanding needs to be passed from generation to generation.
Life Application (thesis)
I always hated the music to which my dad & mom listened. They liked the swinging sounds of big bands, country/western and Neil Diamond.
Now as I have grown up, I really like Glenn Miller, Charley Pride, and I crank up the sound when I hear “Cracklin’ Rosie” and “Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show.”
The point is, the kids may not seem interested, even if they ask but they will not forget your life surrendered to the Lord.
Dads, we have a job to do as we bring our children up in the nurture and admonition or in the instruction and discipline of the Lord.
Fathers are to make sure that Children have a reliable understanding of their faith.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
In looking at this text, we will see two things that dads must keep in mind when teaching their children spiritual things.
The curiosity of our Children will make them teachable.
Children are naturally curious creatures.
They use all of their senses in trying to see what something is and trying to learn about it.
I remember a video on America’s funniest that showed a little boy putting a frog in his mouth.
Why do kids eat dirt, play with bugs, crawl into boxes, play in the toilet, climb out of their beds, or are attracted or repulses by loud noises?
It is because they have a natural curiosity about things, which can even be harmful as we have to put locks on cabinets and keep matches and lighters out of reach, that makes children teachable.
I can promise you that if you are around Children, they will ask you questions about why you do and why you believe the things you do.
So, what do we do when they ask that all important question about your faith.
Do we put them off or do we take advantage o that teachable moment by sharing Christ, his doctrine, his expected lifestyle or his means of relating to others?
Our kids will give us teachable moments.
What happens though when one of those teachable moments comes along and we miss it?
We could end up doing exactly what the New Testament says that a father is not supposed to do and that is to exasperate our children.
I used to have a friend who lived across the street from me when I was a child and whenever he asked his parents a question, the usual answer that they gave him was something like I told you so or worry about that when you are older.
If his curiosity was never fed by his father and he never received the answers to life’s questions that he needed, how would he end up spiritually?
Tom wound up being an atheist.
He is cynical about any religious teaching and I think a good part of that was that no one fed the foundations of his curiosity and he ended up pouring himself into science fiction that was completely naturalistic in its world view.
I want to tell you something dad.
Our kids will be curious and they will come to us with questions.
We need to let that natural curiosity give us the opportunities we need to teach them about the foundations of our faith.
A second thing we need to consider this morning is this.
We must know the tenets of our faith to be able to teach them.
I need to ask Heath Ward a question.
In NASCAR racing, how many crew members are allowed over the pit wall during a pit stop?
Obviously, Heath would not know that answer like say Scott Hutchins would.
Well, dads, we need to know the answers to our kids’ spiritual questions.
Look at verse 27
You shall say.
We have to know how to answer the spiritual questions that our children will ask.
It is our job to lay the Biblical foundation for them as they grow into adulthood.
That is how we can help to keep them from going astray or from feeling like it is natural for every boy to go out and sow his wild oats.
But that also means that as fathers, we need to be ready to lead.
Leading our families spiritually is one of our most important responsibilities.
A father that does not think it is important to be involved in the spiritual development of his children is simply lazy and truthfully he is a slacker in the faith.
The book of Malachi tells us that one of the reasons that God gave marriage was to produce Godly offspring.
The fathers of Israel needed to know what their heritage and what their faith were about.
They needed to know why their God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
But you know dads; we need to know the same things.
Why do we believe that a person will perish in hell apart from a relationship with God through Jesus?
Why do we believe that the cross is necessary in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ?
What are faith and repentance and from where do they come?
There are countless people and ideologies out there just waiting to lead your young skulls full of mush astray.
The world’s system is constantly bombarding them with the idea that they are nothing more than an advanced “read evolved” piece of pond scum.
I bet we can go right into the church youth in almost any church in this city and find kids that believe that homosexuality is a normal alternative lifestyle.
Listen to the language that this generation uses.
They word normatively that used to be considered vulgar or at least questionable in mixed company.
This is because fathers have dropped the ball in teaching their children.
But sadly, society has dropped the ball on fatherhood and its importance.
Back in the mid 1990’s, there was a huge controversy over then VP Dan Quayle commenting that single TV mom Murphy Brown was sending a bad cultural signal by intentionally having a baby in a fatherless home.
The talking heads and the pundits all thought that Dan Quayle was a dolt for his backward thing but he has since been proven right.
Dad, How important are you in the home?
63% of youth suicides are from homes without fathers.
90% of homeless and runaway kids are from fatherless homes.
75% of youth in chemical dependence treatment centers are from fatherless homes.
71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
We can see that a father is not just a vital part of the family; a father is a vital part of society.
Dads, we can make a difference but only if we are intentionally active in our families and with our kids.
Introductory video
I hope that one day my girls will thank me for their spiritual heritage.
Describing the Biblical Text
Egypt has suffered several plague because Pharaoh's refusal to release the Israelites to go into the wilderness and to sacrifice to God.
Now, a tenth and final plague has been announced and Moses has passed the information on the people.
The final plague will come to be known as the Passover as God will judge the Egyptians by sending the angel of death to claim the firstborn of each family.
It will be celebrated for time immemorial including in the death of Christ as we partake of the Lord’s Supper.
Narrate the Contextual application
But, included in the description of the Passover is a reference to our heritage as followers of God in that the instructions for passing on the celebration from generation to generation are included.
The Passover was such a vital part of the Hebrew faith that I know of one OT Scholar that actually begins his teaching odf the OT with the book of Exodus.
This vitality and understanding needs to be passed from generation to generation.
Life Application (thesis)
I always hated the music to which my dad & mom listened. They liked the swinging sounds of big bands, country/western and Neil Diamond.
Now as I have grown up, I really like Glenn Miller, Charley Pride, and I crank up the sound when I hear “Cracklin’ Rosie” and “Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show.”
The point is, the kids may not seem interested, even if they ask but they will not forget your life surrendered to the Lord.
Dads, we have a job to do as we bring our children up in the nurture and admonition or in the instruction and discipline of the Lord.
Fathers are to make sure that Children have a reliable understanding of their faith.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
In looking at this text, we will see two things that dads must keep in mind when teaching their children spiritual things.
The curiosity of our Children will make them teachable.
Children are naturally curious creatures.
They use all of their senses in trying to see what something is and trying to learn about it.
I remember a video on America’s funniest that showed a little boy putting a frog in his mouth.
Why do kids eat dirt, play with bugs, crawl into boxes, play in the toilet, climb out of their beds, or are attracted or repulses by loud noises?
It is because they have a natural curiosity about things, which can even be harmful as we have to put locks on cabinets and keep matches and lighters out of reach, that makes children teachable.
I can promise you that if you are around Children, they will ask you questions about why you do and why you believe the things you do.
So, what do we do when they ask that all important question about your faith.
Do we put them off or do we take advantage o that teachable moment by sharing Christ, his doctrine, his expected lifestyle or his means of relating to others?
Our kids will give us teachable moments.
What happens though when one of those teachable moments comes along and we miss it?
We could end up doing exactly what the New Testament says that a father is not supposed to do and that is to exasperate our children.
I used to have a friend who lived across the street from me when I was a child and whenever he asked his parents a question, the usual answer that they gave him was something like I told you so or worry about that when you are older.
If his curiosity was never fed by his father and he never received the answers to life’s questions that he needed, how would he end up spiritually?
Tom wound up being an atheist.
He is cynical about any religious teaching and I think a good part of that was that no one fed the foundations of his curiosity and he ended up pouring himself into science fiction that was completely naturalistic in its world view.
I want to tell you something dad.
Our kids will be curious and they will come to us with questions.
We need to let that natural curiosity give us the opportunities we need to teach them about the foundations of our faith.
A second thing we need to consider this morning is this.
We must know the tenets of our faith to be able to teach them.
I need to ask Heath Ward a question.
In NASCAR racing, how many crew members are allowed over the pit wall during a pit stop?
Obviously, Heath would not know that answer like say Scott Hutchins would.
Well, dads, we need to know the answers to our kids’ spiritual questions.
Look at verse 27
You shall say.
We have to know how to answer the spiritual questions that our children will ask.
It is our job to lay the Biblical foundation for them as they grow into adulthood.
That is how we can help to keep them from going astray or from feeling like it is natural for every boy to go out and sow his wild oats.
But that also means that as fathers, we need to be ready to lead.
Leading our families spiritually is one of our most important responsibilities.
A father that does not think it is important to be involved in the spiritual development of his children is simply lazy and truthfully he is a slacker in the faith.
The book of Malachi tells us that one of the reasons that God gave marriage was to produce Godly offspring.
The fathers of Israel needed to know what their heritage and what their faith were about.
They needed to know why their God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
But you know dads; we need to know the same things.
Why do we believe that a person will perish in hell apart from a relationship with God through Jesus?
Why do we believe that the cross is necessary in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ?
What are faith and repentance and from where do they come?
There are countless people and ideologies out there just waiting to lead your young skulls full of mush astray.
The world’s system is constantly bombarding them with the idea that they are nothing more than an advanced “read evolved” piece of pond scum.
I bet we can go right into the church youth in almost any church in this city and find kids that believe that homosexuality is a normal alternative lifestyle.
Listen to the language that this generation uses.
They word normatively that used to be considered vulgar or at least questionable in mixed company.
This is because fathers have dropped the ball in teaching their children.
But sadly, society has dropped the ball on fatherhood and its importance.
Back in the mid 1990’s, there was a huge controversy over then VP Dan Quayle commenting that single TV mom Murphy Brown was sending a bad cultural signal by intentionally having a baby in a fatherless home.
The talking heads and the pundits all thought that Dan Quayle was a dolt for his backward thing but he has since been proven right.
Dad, How important are you in the home?
63% of youth suicides are from homes without fathers.
90% of homeless and runaway kids are from fatherless homes.
75% of youth in chemical dependence treatment centers are from fatherless homes.
71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
We can see that a father is not just a vital part of the family; a father is a vital part of society.
Dads, we can make a difference but only if we are intentionally active in our families and with our kids.
Global Warming -- Thinking Green -- Acts 8:4-25
Introduction
Lately when we hear the term thinking green, we associate it with the idea of being environmentally minded.
We ask political candidates what their green initiatives are.
We want to see a company’s green policies and they even make a big deal out of those policies.
We even have slogans like think green.
But, before our current notion of thinking green, there was another idea of what it meant to think green.
Grenn is the color of money isn’t it.
Thinking of green was what Rev Ike was famous for doing with slogans like “You can’t lose with what I use.” And, “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”
Describing the Biblical Text
In our text, we have such a thinker.
He is looking for ways to buy the power of the Holy Spirit in that he could bestow that power on people.
But as an immature follower of Christ, he did not understand that the giving of the Spirit is a sovereign act of God that no man has the authority to give or withhold.
There is something interesting about Peter being herewith these Samaritans.
Let’s remember the instructions that Jesus gave in Acts 1:8.
You will be witnesses in Judea Samaria and the utter most parts of the earth.
The Judea part of the assignment was in Jerusalem.
The Holy Spirit came in power and Peter preached leading thousands to the Lord.
Peter is her is Samaria when the Holy Spirit comes in power.
In Acts 10, Peter Goes to Caesarea and the witnesses to a gentile of the uttermost parts of the earth and the Holy Spirit again came with power.
It is not accidental that Peter was there every time the spirit was poured out in a great move of God to expand the churches place on the earth.
When Jesus told Simon that his name was Peter and that on this rock he would build the church, he was pointing to Peter’s later usefulness in the process of build the church on earth.
Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text we see that the church was scattered.
Stephen was just martyred and followers of Jesus scattered to places like Samaria where Philip wound up.
The martyrdom of Stephen, though tragic, was essential in seeing the great commission fulfilled in the early church age.In Samaria, a number of people hearing the preaching of the gospel of Jesus believed.
There was even a man who had been known as The Great power of God because of his ability to do magic.\
I believe that this illusion could lead someone to desire “the real thing” when it comes to power.
If you live in the spotlight as a pagan, it is easy to seek the spotlight as a follower of Christ.
This is what Simon the sorcerer was experiencing in this text.
He was just thinking green like he had always done but now Peter was about to give Him a new lesson.
Life Application (thesis)
These followers of Jesus had believed and had been regenerated but the spirit had not yet fallen on them in power.
What is normative in conversion for us had not yet become the norm as it would in the fulfillment of the great commission.
Now, we receive the Holy Spirit as a result of the Grace of God leading to our mindful conversion.
When we receive Him, we receive the power of God.
Like Simon the sorcerer, our maturity hinders our recognition and our understanding of the Spiritual presence in our lives.
Why do we receive the Spirit?
There are some things we can name from the scriptures such as the earnest of our inheritance, the power of sanctification, or the, gift of our service but the ultimate answer is that when we receive the Holy Spirit, it is to Glorify the Lord.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
There is one thing that green thinkers like to do and that is to protest.
As we consider what a spiritual life looks like, there are some things that we could protest as well.
We will discuss three of them here today.
We must protest the temptation to remain silent.
There is an old saying and a four season’s song that reminds us that silence is golden and even encouragement in proverbs that tells us that even a fool is counted wise when he remains silent.
Yet, there is a time to speak and that time is when the gospel is being shared with the lost pagan world in which we live.
Saul of tarsus and the boys who were out to stymie Christianity wanted to silence followers of Christ when they despicably murdered Stephen the Deacon.
Yet here is Philip in Samaria and he went looking for a hideout in which to stay until he could quietly sneak back to Jerusamen.
No Pastor Charlie, that is not what happened.
Look at verse 5.
Philip immediately started to proclaim Christ.
The murder of Stephen had to be in the front of His mind but so was his new faith in the Lord Jesus.
There are a lot of things in this life that can tempt us to shut down our sharing of the Gospel.
Yet, in all of life there is nothing that we have that is any more important that we communicate.
Probably one of the reasons that we don’t communicate the gospel is because it has been modeled for us incorrectly for so long.
We have been driven by decision based evangelism rather than by conversion based evangelism.
I recently read a book by Walter Chantry called Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic.
Decision based evangelism is really not the preaching of the old rugged cross.
It is selling someone a fire insurance policy.
The true Gospel calls for the wretchedness of the sin that condemns the sinner to be replaced with the grace of God accomplished in the death Burial and resurrection of Jesus that redeems the Sinner.
The gospel message has become so much like a self-help Oprah type feel good about yourself quick-fix that it gets lost in the myriad of other messages out there.
This almost deflates us because we subconsciously tell ourselves that it won’t make any difference in someone’s life so we remain silent.
Or, we fear what others might think.
Could you imagine what the Lord Jesus’ ministry would have been had he been concerned about peer pressure and the opinion of others.
That was not a consideration for Him.
Here is Philip in a strange town with strange surroundings, a place hated by the Jews and he would preach Jesus.
Whatever reasons we might have for not telling others about Christ just don’t cut it.
They all fall pale beside the example of our Lord and example of the early church.
We must protest the temptation to use our faith for our personal gain.
Maybe for us this is not really a temptation but for Simon the sorcerer it was.
And, if we are not careful we could get caught up in the nothingness of some current TV preachers who think feeling good is the gospel message.
The gospel is not about prosperity.
Salvation is not about personal security or unlocking God’s ability to give you your best day now.
The gospel is about the power of God for salvation to all who believe.
The gospel changes lives not by making us feel better but by making us better in that our lives begin to be conformed to image of God.
Simon just wanted to continue to be known as the great power of God by being able to call the Holy Spirit down on people.
That is the same message that all the “speak or create your own destiny” preachers.
You have the power over God to determine life’s outcomes and attitudes and you can tell God what he has to do for you.
We are the master and God is our servant.
That’s an enduring gospel … not!
We must protest the temptation to think we are done.
In the 1970’s things began to change in the world of candy. M&M Mars and Nestle began to grab a lot of the market share from the perpetual chocolate champion, Hershey. Things like, “N-E-S-T-L-E-S Nestles makes the very best Chocolate,” and “The milk Chocolate melts in your mouth and not in your hands,” began to pull people from the perennial leader. Hershey had to make a decision. Would they continue to let Nestle and Mars gain or would they spend some coin on advertising. They chose to advertise and came up with a simple but true yet very effective jingle, “Hershey’s is the great American chocolate bar.” But, it was not until the 1970’s that Hershey’s chocolate began advertising.
They were content to have chocolate and to sell chocolate but they did not want to market their chocolate.
We could be like that.
We could be content to have Christ and to even to grow in Christ but do we want to market Christ.
Do we want to tell others about Him?
You see, there are some here who went through the heyday of this church in 1962 and they think they are done.
There are some who have simply become content with knowing Christ and they think they are done.
There are some who are very busy doing everything under the sun and they just want to be done.
The truth of the matter is we are never done.
Look at verse 25
In returning to Jerusalem, the disciples of Jesus simply went back home and unpacked and got on with life.
No, they stopped in every little village and town and did what?
They preached the gospel.
They were fulfilling what Jesus told that woman at the well.
The hour had come when Jerusalem did not matter any more.
The gospel was to preached to all people and the word was to be spread to the uttermost parts of the earth.
How are we doing?
Have we made that our mission?
We are not done and we can prove it by simply obeying Christ.
The 1960’s were just that, the 1960’s.
The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were decades of decline but if we were faithful to make converts then we cannot call those years failing years. And even if we numerically increased until 1962, if those were decisions and not converts, we cannot call those years successful.
Our job then is to live the life empowered by the Holy Spirit to the Glory of God seeking to convert people to faith in Jesus Christ.
Lately when we hear the term thinking green, we associate it with the idea of being environmentally minded.
We ask political candidates what their green initiatives are.
We want to see a company’s green policies and they even make a big deal out of those policies.
We even have slogans like think green.
But, before our current notion of thinking green, there was another idea of what it meant to think green.
Grenn is the color of money isn’t it.
Thinking of green was what Rev Ike was famous for doing with slogans like “You can’t lose with what I use.” And, “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”
Describing the Biblical Text
In our text, we have such a thinker.
He is looking for ways to buy the power of the Holy Spirit in that he could bestow that power on people.
But as an immature follower of Christ, he did not understand that the giving of the Spirit is a sovereign act of God that no man has the authority to give or withhold.
There is something interesting about Peter being herewith these Samaritans.
Let’s remember the instructions that Jesus gave in Acts 1:8.
You will be witnesses in Judea Samaria and the utter most parts of the earth.
The Judea part of the assignment was in Jerusalem.
The Holy Spirit came in power and Peter preached leading thousands to the Lord.
Peter is her is Samaria when the Holy Spirit comes in power.
In Acts 10, Peter Goes to Caesarea and the witnesses to a gentile of the uttermost parts of the earth and the Holy Spirit again came with power.
It is not accidental that Peter was there every time the spirit was poured out in a great move of God to expand the churches place on the earth.
When Jesus told Simon that his name was Peter and that on this rock he would build the church, he was pointing to Peter’s later usefulness in the process of build the church on earth.
Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text we see that the church was scattered.
Stephen was just martyred and followers of Jesus scattered to places like Samaria where Philip wound up.
The martyrdom of Stephen, though tragic, was essential in seeing the great commission fulfilled in the early church age.In Samaria, a number of people hearing the preaching of the gospel of Jesus believed.
There was even a man who had been known as The Great power of God because of his ability to do magic.\
I believe that this illusion could lead someone to desire “the real thing” when it comes to power.
If you live in the spotlight as a pagan, it is easy to seek the spotlight as a follower of Christ.
This is what Simon the sorcerer was experiencing in this text.
He was just thinking green like he had always done but now Peter was about to give Him a new lesson.
Life Application (thesis)
These followers of Jesus had believed and had been regenerated but the spirit had not yet fallen on them in power.
What is normative in conversion for us had not yet become the norm as it would in the fulfillment of the great commission.
Now, we receive the Holy Spirit as a result of the Grace of God leading to our mindful conversion.
When we receive Him, we receive the power of God.
Like Simon the sorcerer, our maturity hinders our recognition and our understanding of the Spiritual presence in our lives.
Why do we receive the Spirit?
There are some things we can name from the scriptures such as the earnest of our inheritance, the power of sanctification, or the, gift of our service but the ultimate answer is that when we receive the Holy Spirit, it is to Glorify the Lord.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
There is one thing that green thinkers like to do and that is to protest.
As we consider what a spiritual life looks like, there are some things that we could protest as well.
We will discuss three of them here today.
We must protest the temptation to remain silent.
There is an old saying and a four season’s song that reminds us that silence is golden and even encouragement in proverbs that tells us that even a fool is counted wise when he remains silent.
Yet, there is a time to speak and that time is when the gospel is being shared with the lost pagan world in which we live.
Saul of tarsus and the boys who were out to stymie Christianity wanted to silence followers of Christ when they despicably murdered Stephen the Deacon.
Yet here is Philip in Samaria and he went looking for a hideout in which to stay until he could quietly sneak back to Jerusamen.
No Pastor Charlie, that is not what happened.
Look at verse 5.
Philip immediately started to proclaim Christ.
The murder of Stephen had to be in the front of His mind but so was his new faith in the Lord Jesus.
There are a lot of things in this life that can tempt us to shut down our sharing of the Gospel.
Yet, in all of life there is nothing that we have that is any more important that we communicate.
Probably one of the reasons that we don’t communicate the gospel is because it has been modeled for us incorrectly for so long.
We have been driven by decision based evangelism rather than by conversion based evangelism.
I recently read a book by Walter Chantry called Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic.
Decision based evangelism is really not the preaching of the old rugged cross.
It is selling someone a fire insurance policy.
The true Gospel calls for the wretchedness of the sin that condemns the sinner to be replaced with the grace of God accomplished in the death Burial and resurrection of Jesus that redeems the Sinner.
The gospel message has become so much like a self-help Oprah type feel good about yourself quick-fix that it gets lost in the myriad of other messages out there.
This almost deflates us because we subconsciously tell ourselves that it won’t make any difference in someone’s life so we remain silent.
Or, we fear what others might think.
Could you imagine what the Lord Jesus’ ministry would have been had he been concerned about peer pressure and the opinion of others.
That was not a consideration for Him.
Here is Philip in a strange town with strange surroundings, a place hated by the Jews and he would preach Jesus.
Whatever reasons we might have for not telling others about Christ just don’t cut it.
They all fall pale beside the example of our Lord and example of the early church.
We must protest the temptation to use our faith for our personal gain.
Maybe for us this is not really a temptation but for Simon the sorcerer it was.
And, if we are not careful we could get caught up in the nothingness of some current TV preachers who think feeling good is the gospel message.
The gospel is not about prosperity.
Salvation is not about personal security or unlocking God’s ability to give you your best day now.
The gospel is about the power of God for salvation to all who believe.
The gospel changes lives not by making us feel better but by making us better in that our lives begin to be conformed to image of God.
Simon just wanted to continue to be known as the great power of God by being able to call the Holy Spirit down on people.
That is the same message that all the “speak or create your own destiny” preachers.
You have the power over God to determine life’s outcomes and attitudes and you can tell God what he has to do for you.
We are the master and God is our servant.
That’s an enduring gospel … not!
We must protest the temptation to think we are done.
In the 1970’s things began to change in the world of candy. M&M Mars and Nestle began to grab a lot of the market share from the perpetual chocolate champion, Hershey. Things like, “N-E-S-T-L-E-S Nestles makes the very best Chocolate,” and “The milk Chocolate melts in your mouth and not in your hands,” began to pull people from the perennial leader. Hershey had to make a decision. Would they continue to let Nestle and Mars gain or would they spend some coin on advertising. They chose to advertise and came up with a simple but true yet very effective jingle, “Hershey’s is the great American chocolate bar.” But, it was not until the 1970’s that Hershey’s chocolate began advertising.
They were content to have chocolate and to sell chocolate but they did not want to market their chocolate.
We could be like that.
We could be content to have Christ and to even to grow in Christ but do we want to market Christ.
Do we want to tell others about Him?
You see, there are some here who went through the heyday of this church in 1962 and they think they are done.
There are some who have simply become content with knowing Christ and they think they are done.
There are some who are very busy doing everything under the sun and they just want to be done.
The truth of the matter is we are never done.
Look at verse 25
In returning to Jerusalem, the disciples of Jesus simply went back home and unpacked and got on with life.
No, they stopped in every little village and town and did what?
They preached the gospel.
They were fulfilling what Jesus told that woman at the well.
The hour had come when Jerusalem did not matter any more.
The gospel was to preached to all people and the word was to be spread to the uttermost parts of the earth.
How are we doing?
Have we made that our mission?
We are not done and we can prove it by simply obeying Christ.
The 1960’s were just that, the 1960’s.
The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were decades of decline but if we were faithful to make converts then we cannot call those years failing years. And even if we numerically increased until 1962, if those were decisions and not converts, we cannot call those years successful.
Our job then is to live the life empowered by the Holy Spirit to the Glory of God seeking to convert people to faith in Jesus Christ.
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