1 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:08,119 My name is Connor. I'm the communities pastor here. 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,520 I've oversee leaders and groups and help raise up new leaders 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,360 and by way of a little bit of introduction to share a little 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:20,680 bit about who I was as a kid. As a kid, I was, no doubts about 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:26,400 it, a sports nerd, loved sports, particularly loved football, 6 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,520 would watch every Sunday from 11:00 AM until as late as my 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,560 parents would let me stay up for the Sunday Night Football game. 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,920 And I loved sports because I loved watching them, but also 9 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,720 because I I played them. And because of that, I really 10 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,000 was tuned in to not only Sundays as I watched the NFL, my 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:48,120 favorite sport, but also to the sports documentary. 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,280 And I would watch as many of them as I could because I wanted 13 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,400 to see not just what happened on Sunday on the field, but what 14 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,920 happened throughout the week on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, 15 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:03,160 Thursday, Friday leading up to the game that got these players 16 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,440 to where they were to be like me. 17 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,440 And many of my friends wanted to be professional athletes. 18 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,760 And maybe football sports is not your thing, but you've maybe 19 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,080 watched a bit too much of something or have been 20 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,880 enthralled by something like the behind the scenes of Taylor 21 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:25,080 Swift's Eras Tour or maybe Chef's Table on Netflix. 22 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,120 You've enjoyed watching chef's piece together meals across the 23 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,680 globe or maybe something like that. 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,280 And it's a sense of what we get as we look to the book of Acts 25 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,240 this season as a church because we see what the church was like. 26 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,320 We get to see not just what Sundays are like. 27 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:44,040 Because last week we looked at that. 28 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,720 Tucker really preached on what is the first Sunday of the 29 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,600 church look like? The Holy Spirit falls, Peter 30 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,480 preaches A sermon, thousands come to know Jesus through it 31 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,400 and join the church. But what does that first Monday 32 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,760 look like? We've seen Sunday, but what does 33 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,360 Monday look like? As we read narrative texts like 34 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,680 Acts, we need to ask a couple questions to help us make sense 35 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:12,240 of what is happening. And one of them is this Why did 36 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:17,440 the author, in our case it's Luke, tell this story and why 37 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,920 did he tell it this way? Why is he telling it now, and 38 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:23,840 why is he telling it this way? And so we're picking up Acts 39 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,440 after we read Luke, which is the perfect way to do it because 40 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,040 they share the authorship of Luke and Luke. 41 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:34,880 The gospel is all about Jesus and his disciples and how Jesus 42 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,680 works with his disciples to begin doing and teaching his 43 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,080 way. And then the book of Acts picks 44 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,880 up that same Jesus continuing to teach and continuing to do 45 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,320 things through his disciples. And so really what we're asking 46 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:55,880 this morning is what does the day in the life of a spirit 47 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:00,120 filled person look like? What does Monday look like for 48 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:05,480 the church that has been sent? And so if you'll turn with me to 49 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,120 Acts Chapter 3, that's where we'll be this morning. 50 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,360 And I want to warn you because we won't just be in Acts Chapter 51 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,320 3, we'll be in three and four. And so don't worry, we'll get 52 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,880 through it in a timely fashion. But in order to help us make 53 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,320 sense of this, these two chapters which tell one story, 54 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,800 it's one unified story, we're going to break our chapters, our 55 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:31,720 story into four consecutive scenes, 4 consecutive scenes. 56 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,640 And as you guys turn there, I want to give the backdrop to 57 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:37,880 this drama that's about to unfold. 58 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:42,080 And so Acts 242, a verse many of us maybe are familiar with, says 59 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,520 this. And they be in the church 60 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,400 continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship 61 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,760 and the breaking of bread and in prayers and looking much like 62 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:54,520 what our Calvary communities look like. 63 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,840 They would eat together. They talk about the Bible 64 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:00,640 together, discuss the apostles teaching together, pray for one 65 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:02,120 another, hang out with one another. 66 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:07,320 And then verse 46. So continuing daily with 1 67 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,760 accord, or in other words, unity in the temple and the breaking 68 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:16,000 of bread from house to house, and we are going to pick up this 69 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,640 story as two particular disciples head into the temple, 70 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:23,320 as was their practice. The two guys we're going to 71 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,640 speak about and think about and read about today are Peter and 72 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,720 John. Now, as we begin to read about 73 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,960 them, there's going to be a temptation for most of us who 74 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:37,600 are familiar with these two fellows to exalt them above the 75 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,240 level of ordinary. We're going to be tempted to 76 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,920 think about them as these holier than thou, better than mean 77 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,560 people. But it's important to understand 78 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:52,880 them as they truly are. These are two ordinary men, two 79 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,160 men who were fishermen before they met Jesus, two men that 80 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,440 went through the ordinary Jewish schooling system, two men who 81 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,360 had nothing special about them other than two things, two 82 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:06,600 things that we as follows just actually share. 83 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,480 They discipled under Jesus and they had the Holy Spirit in 84 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:13,400 them. And so when as you read about 85 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:15,880 these two guys, we're not reading about any special 86 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,240 people, but just two guys who disciples under Jesus and are 87 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,640 filled with the Spirit. 2 guys much like us. 88 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,720 And so look with me to scene #1 chapter 3, verse one. 89 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,480 We pick up the story now. Peter and John went together to 90 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,400 the temple at the hour of prayer, the 9th hour, 3:00 for 91 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,800 us, 3:00 PM to be exact. And a certain man lame from his 92 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:44,000 mother's womb, not meaning that he was like a loser or uncool or 93 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,360 uncouth, meaning that he couldn't walk from his mother's 94 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:48,840 womb. And later in the narrative, 95 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:52,160 we'll find out this man's 40 years old for his mother's womb. 96 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:56,200 Until now, for four decades, this man has been carried by 97 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,120 loved ones, friends, family alike. 98 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,440 He's never taken a step by himself. 99 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:06,440 And this man very wisely, very shrewdly, is laid daily by his 100 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,920 friends at the gate of the temple, which is called 101 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,280 beautiful shrewdly, because these people are going into the 102 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:16,040 temple, the people of Israel, and they're passing this man, 103 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:18,280 and then they're leaving the temple and they're passing him 104 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:20,520 again, and they're going to worship God. 105 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:23,840 God, who cares about the outcast, who cares about the 106 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:27,440 poor, who cares about the needy. And so very wisely, he's seated 107 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,280 outside the temple asking for money, asking for help from some 108 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:34,800 people who have had their hearts stirred by God. 109 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:39,240 And so as he sits there, he sees Peter and John again, nothing 110 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,240 special about them to him at this point, just two ordinary 111 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,840 fellows who he asks this question that he'd ask countless 112 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,800 people previous to this. He says, can you give me some 113 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:51,680 money? Or in other words, he says, 114 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,480 asked. He asked for alms. 115 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,960 Verse 4, Peter fixes his eyes. He looks at this man. 116 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,000 And as he looks at him, maybe imagine him getting down on his 117 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,480 level. He kneels down to see this man 118 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:07,200 face to face and Peter says to him, look at us. 119 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:12,840 So verse 5, this man gives his attention to Peter and John 120 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:14,800 expecting to receive something from them. 121 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:19,920 And Peter lays out maybe one of the more rude statements so far 122 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,600 in the book of Acts. Silver and gold we do not have. 123 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:29,000 And you can imagine this man sitting there watching Peter 124 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,760 bend over, look him in the eyes, draw his attention, tell him 125 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,320 this, I don't have any money for you. 126 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,600 As he sees missed opportunity after missed opportunity, walk 127 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,560 through behind Peter. Bad news first, then good news, 128 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:47,440 Peter says. But what I do have, I give you 129 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:53,760 In the name of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of Nazareth. 130 00:07:54,200 --> 00:08:00,120 Rise up and walk. 40 years you've been sitting here lame, 131 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,320 unable to walk. In this moment, rise up and 132 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:04,800 walk. Peter puts his money where his 133 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:06,960 mouth is. He grabs this man's hand and 134 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:10,200 helps him to stand up. And as he does so, immediately 135 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,600 his feet and ankle bones received strength. 136 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,680 And as most of us would in this moment, this man begins to leap 137 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,400 for joy. From crippled since birth to 138 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:22,840 leaping for joy. This man now goes into the 139 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:28,400 temple, walks in for the first time ever with Peter and with 140 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,360 John. And verse 9, the people, the 141 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,520 people who had for possibly decades and maybe a few times a 142 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:37,960 day for decades, walked past this man. 143 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:41,159 Maybe many of them, having given him a bit of money from time to 144 00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:44,560 time, helped him out. They knew his face, they knew 145 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:47,040 his story. They see him walking and 146 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,560 praising God, and they knew that it was he who sat begging alms 147 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:52,040 at the beautiful gate of the temple. 148 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:57,560 And they, rightfully so, we're filled with wonder, an amazement 149 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:02,640 at what had happened. And scene one, OK, so we've seen 150 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:07,880 so far in the scene #1 is that Peter and John go into go into 151 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,280 the temple. And on their way to the temple, 152 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,800 they see a man who asked for help, asked for a bit of money, 153 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,520 and they offer him healing through the name of Jesus and 154 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:23,480 the power of his Holy Spirit. Now before we go to scene #2 I 155 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:27,840 want to share just a quick word on the power of God to heal. 156 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,200 Because out of all of the workings of the Spirit, the 157 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,720 gifts of the Spirit, the things the Spirit does, this power to 158 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:39,720 heal might be and probably is the most emotionally charged 159 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,160 one. What I mean by that is this, if 160 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:46,360 you were asked to give a teaching at maybe a church or a 161 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,960 school or to some friends about Jesus and, and, and you were 162 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:52,640 excited about it. And she began to pray, Holy 163 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:54,560 Spirit, please bless this teaching. 164 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:57,440 May it go well. May you speak through me and may 165 00:09:57,440 --> 00:09:59,880 people's hearts be changed. Non Christians become 166 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:01,440 Christians. Christians deepen in their 167 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,640 faith, just work so powerfully through me. 168 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,840 And then you go and you do the teaching and it totally falls 169 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,600 flat. Everybody's going to be OK. 170 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,200 The people will forgive you and probably will forget about it by 171 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,720 the end of the day. After a day or two, you'll 172 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,280 forget about it and move on. Nobody is really hurt in the 173 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:25,480 long run. Not so with healing people that 174 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,120 you've prayed for, for healing people that come to the church 175 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,360 and maybe we pray for up front or in the prayer room. 176 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,720 If they do not get healed, people like this man, then life 177 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,680 isn't OK. They still are broken and for 178 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:43,000 the majority of people, this guy would have kept on living as a 179 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:48,000 cripple, but the majority of people, they're coming for 180 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,360 prayer because life and death is on the line. 181 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,120 Jesus, please heal me coming for prayer because I want to be 182 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:01,440 healed, otherwise I will die. And so this working of healing, 183 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:03,480 it is rife with emotional charge. 184 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:08,480 And so couple words on this, as we see in the gospels, Jesus 185 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,320 walk around Jerusalem healing and we see the disciples now in 186 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,760 the book of Acts healing get asked the question, why are they 187 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,440 doing this? Is it because they're just nice 188 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,400 people? And sometimes we read that into 189 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:20,640 Jesus. Jesus is so nice. 190 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,400 He goes around and he sees people who need help and, and he 191 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:27,240 and he's so helpful that he tells them to to walk and be 192 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,480 healed or he gives them their sight back. 193 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,960 And while that Jesus is is nice, he's a kind guy. 194 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:35,720 What's happening is deeper than that. 195 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:40,720 Jesus heals and disciples heal because they are proclaiming 196 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,640 God's Kingdom. And as you guys know, in God's 197 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,960 Kingdom there's no tears or pain, there's no sickness, 198 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:53,160 there's no brokenness, there's no lameness, there's no death. 199 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:57,520 And so every time that Jesus and disciples heal, what they're 200 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,120 doing is saying there is a Kingdom that is perfectly like 201 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:05,000 this, and you are getting to experience that in a tiny little 202 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:10,640 bit right now. Now here's the difficulty for us 203 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:15,600 as the church, we live in the same same sort of lives, same 204 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,000 sort of way as Jesus and the disciples did. 205 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:22,000 We have 1 foot in the Kingdom and 1 foot in the world. 206 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,400 And what that means for us is that we have this tension of 207 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:30,960 knowing that God desires to and often does heal people, and he 208 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,640 definitely can. But then also God is 209 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:37,800 compassionate and kind, and he often walks through suffering 210 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:43,160 with people, not healing them, but comforting them till the end 211 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:45,880 until they pass from this life to the next. 212 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:49,720 And ultimately, no healing is the end of the story. 213 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:52,600 This side of eternity. This man who's healed in this 214 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,720 moment might get a paper cut tomorrow and eventually will 215 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,720 pass from this life to the next. And so we as Christians, that 216 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,320 we, we, we lean into the power of, of God to heal and we pray 217 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,760 for healing. But to hold these two things in 218 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:10,320 tension that God can and often does, but at the same time 219 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:13,680 sometimes walks through suffering compassionately and 220 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:17,440 loving with those around us. And we ought to be the same. 221 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:22,080 Now let's turn our attention to scene #2 Scene 2. 222 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,720 We'll pick it up, Chapter 3, verse 11. 223 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,280 Now, as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and 224 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:32,000 John, all the people ran together to them in the porch, 225 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,200 which is called Solomon's, and they were greatly amazed. 226 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,480 Now I want us to help. I want to help us get this 227 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,120 picture of what's happening here in our minds. 228 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:41,240 There's a couple pictures for us. 229 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,160 The first one is a picture of the temple. 230 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:47,840 As you can see, even from this photo, the temple dominates the 231 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,280 skyline of Jerusalem. It is the main thing. 232 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,840 It's massive. And as you can see, the columns 233 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,040 and the porches along the side, there's four of them. 234 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,360 And the one closest to US, the one in the foreground of this 235 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,600 image, is on the east side, and that's where Peter, John, and 236 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:09,520 this lame man are. They called that Solomon's 237 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:11,680 porch. You go to the next picture, you 238 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:14,080 can see a rendering of what that might have looked like. 239 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:17,760 And so maybe imagine being Peter and John and you're looking 240 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,120 right down this aisle, right down this porch, and people are 241 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,840 starting to flood in because you just healed this lame man that 242 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:27,000 they've known for 40 years. They've seen him. 243 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,240 And now Peter sees all of this. It says in verse 12. 244 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:36,600 And when he saw it, he responded to the people, men of Israel. 245 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,560 What do you marvel at? This kind of an interesting 246 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:43,080 question, right? To which they would probably all 247 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,920 be thinking that we marvel at this because we know this guy 248 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:52,680 and he has never walked and you show up and he walks into the 249 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:56,280 temple with you. What on earth happened? 250 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:00,760 Now Peter explains why they should not be marveling at this. 251 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:06,000 Read on with me. Or why look so intently at us as 252 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,680 though by our own power or godliness we made this man walk. 253 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,440 It wasn't us. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and 254 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:17,400 Jacob, the God of our fathers, in a sense, the God of the 255 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,000 Jewish people, the Old Testament God glorified his servant. 256 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,480 And here's the kicker. Jesus. 257 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:30,000 Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate 258 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:34,960 when he was determined to let him go, but you denied the Holy 259 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:40,840 One and the just, and you asked for a murderer, Barabbas, to be 260 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,800 granted to you and killed. You killed the Prince of Life 261 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,600 whom God, God raised him from the dead of which we being Peter 262 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:55,720 and John are witnesses. Now remember, this story comes, 263 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:57,600 possibly it comes after Pentecost. 264 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:02,320 It could come on the very next day, but it's about 50 or more, 265 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:06,200 give or take, days away from Jesus's crucifixion and 266 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,720 resurrection. And so these people in the 267 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:13,480 temple are some of the very same people who stood chanting, 268 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,600 crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. 269 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,640 Many of these people were there saying, give us Barabbas the 270 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,000 murderer. We want him and not Jesus the 271 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,080 Prince of life. Some of these very same people 272 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,960 were there, and Peter calls them out on that. 273 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:33,760 But then he offers this beautiful word, I think 274 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:39,520 responding to a very simple yet powerful prayer that Jesus prays 275 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:41,840 on the cross. You're probably familiar with 276 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:43,720 it. As Jesus hangs on the cross, he 277 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:49,760 says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. 278 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,360 And I think Peter hearing that now, recognizing the opportunity 279 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:59,240 that he has in this moment, says what he says next, says you 280 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,080 killed these people, You killed Jesus. 281 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:08,599 But verse 19 You can repent therefore, and be converted. 282 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,839 You can turn away from your old life and start to follow, be 283 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:15,800 converted to the way of Jesus, that your sins may be blotted 284 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:20,319 out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of 285 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,680 the Lord. And that He may send Jesus 286 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,240 Christ, who has preached to you before, whom heaven must receive 287 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,760 and tell the time restoration of all things which God has spoken 288 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:36,520 by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. 289 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,920 See what Peter's doing? He's offering forgiveness to 290 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:44,000 some of the very same people who literally put Jesus on the 291 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,640 cross. And he's saying it's possible 292 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:51,240 for you to turn to Jesus to be forgiven, to have your sins 293 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:56,160 blotted out, washed away by God himself, if you will simply 294 00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:00,160 repent and convert to Jesus. And then he explains what that 295 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,000 will be like. And it's beautiful what he says. 296 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,800 It says times are refreshing, may come in lieu of the great 297 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,560 time of restoration. 1 commentator explains it puts it 298 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:13,040 this way. He says heaven is the place 299 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:17,200 where God's purposes for the future are stored up like pieces 300 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,560 of a stage set waiting in the wings. 301 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:25,040 So he imagines God unfolding all of eternity, the whole story of 302 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,200 humankind, like watching a play. And out on the sides and in the 303 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,440 backstage, he has all of these things that he's storing up, 304 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:38,560 chief among them Jesus himself. And he is waiting for that final 305 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:43,000 great act of the play. When Jesus finally reappears, 306 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:45,200 heaven and earth come together as one. 307 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:47,840 And that will be the great renewal of all things. 308 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,920 And that's what Peter's pointing to you. 309 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,000 But he's also offering refreshing. 310 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,600 We can have all of that, but we don't have to wait. 311 00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,280 Another author, he puts it this way. 312 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:05,080 He says we need not and must not wait until we die to live in the 313 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,480 Kingdom. If we will only move to that 314 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:13,400 land now by giving our lives to Jesus, the passage and physical 315 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:20,360 death will be but one day in the endless life we've long since 316 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,760 begun. Isn't that beautiful? 317 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:25,480 So Peter's preaching to these crowds. 318 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:32,720 And that's where we end scene #2 we see Peter and John, witnesses 319 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,440 of Jesus's life, death, crucifixion, resurrection, and 320 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:41,080 ascension. Offer forgiveness and hope to a 321 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:45,200 people that's marveling, marveling at what what Christ 322 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:50,040 has done through these men. See, these people had a few 323 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:54,360 years of Jesus in their lives where they saw him do these very 324 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:56,480 same things. And now he's still working and 325 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,240 he's still speaking through these two men and the rest of 326 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:04,120 the church around them. And Peter offers to them the 327 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:08,880 same offer that's on the table for each one of us to go to the 328 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:14,400 restored and new Kingdom to be with God both in eternity and 329 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,680 also starting now. And we turn our attention to 330 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:23,560 scene #3. And as they spoke, it says in 331 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:28,400 chapter 4, verse one, the people, the priests, the captain 332 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:33,360 of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, people who need 333 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:35,120 no introduction. And they don't probably need to 334 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:37,800 tell you what they do next. If you're familiar at all with 335 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:42,400 their reputation throughout the Gospels, they show up, they hear 336 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,120 that these men, Peter and John, are talking about Jesus. 337 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,600 And of course, what do they do? They put their hands on them. 338 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:53,040 They arrest them and they put them in prison for the evening 339 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:59,760 to await trial in the morning. Then Luke has this beautiful 340 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,120 kind of throwaway statement in verse four. 341 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,080 He says, however, as Peter and John were were towed off to 342 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,680 prison and awaited trial, many of those who heard the word 343 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,800 believed how many? Well, he says the number of men, 344 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:18,560 just men in the church now came to about 5000. 345 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,960 So the first Sunday added 3000 people, total men, women and 346 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:28,840 probably some children. Now that this first Monday we 347 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:33,760 see 2000 men added or depending on how you do your math, there's 348 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,440 5000 men in the church plus however many women and children 349 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,360 were were a part of it as well. The church continues to grow 350 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:44,160 exponentially. Verse 5. 351 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,680 And it came to pass on the next day that the rulers, elders, 352 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:52,280 scribes, as well as Anis, the high priest, Caiaphas, John and 353 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,400 Alexander, and as many as were in the family of the high priest 354 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,560 were gathered together at Jerusalem. 355 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:00,880 And when they had sent them in the midst, they asked. 356 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,480 So here's the picture. I'll show actually an image on 357 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,320 the screen of what this kind of would have looked like. 358 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:09,440 This is the Sanhedrin court. It was arrayed in the half 359 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,320 circle so that the Sanhedrin could talk back and forth to one 360 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,240 another, so they could have discussions, and they would have 361 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:21,320 put Peter and John right there, smack dab in the center and 362 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,160 surrounding Peter and John are not just average ordinary 363 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,440 people. These are the authorities. 364 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:31,440 These are the elites of their city, the religious and cultural 365 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,240 elites, the people everybody would have looked up to, the 366 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:35,920 people who held all of the power. 367 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:40,080 And they stand there in the middle of them and they're asked 368 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:43,120 this question. Peter and John, we want to know 369 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:49,600 verse 7, by what power or by what name have you done this? 370 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,400 Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit and you'll notice 371 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,800 throughout the book of Acts, at any time anybody's filled with 372 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:01,200 the Spirit they speak says to them, rulers of the people and 373 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:05,040 elders of Israel. If we this day are judged for a 374 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:09,480 good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been 375 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:13,960 made, Well, let it be known to you all and to the people of 376 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:19,960 Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom 377 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:26,480 you crucified, who God raised from the dead, by him, this man 378 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,080 stands before you whole. They say it's by the name of 379 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,960 Jesus, the man you crucified, who God raised from the dead, 380 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:37,280 that you have been made a whole. And then Peter quotes Jesus, 381 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:41,000 quoting the Old Testament. And Jesus had said this couple 382 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,920 months before in the temple, and Peter says this is the stone 383 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,920 which was rejected by you builders, which has become now 384 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,640 the chief cornerstone. Nor is there any salvation in 385 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,360 any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among 386 00:23:56,360 --> 00:24:02,200 men by which we must be saved. Now I want us to notice here for 387 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:08,480 a moment the character arc, if you will, of Peter, because we 388 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,160 see Peter right now speaking boldly before the elites of the 389 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,360 city. But just a month and a half, 390 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:19,040 couple months previous, Jesus was standing exactly where Peter 391 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,120 was on the night he was betrayed. 392 00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:25,360 He was taken to be tried by the same people, these same elites, 393 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,080 same authorities. And Jesus did where Peter stood 394 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,600 and Peter stood outside. And you might remember the story 395 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:38,840 because Peter famously stands outside and he's talking with a 396 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:43,520 a girl, not just any ordinary girl, but servant girl. 397 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:47,200 And she asks him kind of a similar question as the 398 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:52,120 Sanhedrin, as the council there. And she says, you're one of his 399 00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:59,520 disciples, aren't you? And Peter responds, no, don't 400 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,560 know him, don't know what you're talking about. 401 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:08,240 I'm not one of his disciples. So somehow, in the span of a 402 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:14,080 couple months, Peter goes from denying Jesus before a servant 403 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:19,920 girl to proclaiming him in front of the very same people who had 404 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,080 Jesus crucified. What happened? 405 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,480 We know two very simple and short things. 406 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,920 If you want an expanded version of it, I would encourage you to 407 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,880 take a look at Pastor Tom's Wednesday night teaching from 408 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,920 Holy Week, the Wednesday leading up to Easter, because he gave 409 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,360 one of the more most beautiful sermons I've ever listened to. 410 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:48,960 His poetic and wonderful showing how Peter and Judas responded to 411 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,760 basically denying Jesus on the night he was betrayed in 412 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,760 different ways and how Peter persevered but Judas didn't. 413 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,920 So I point you there for an extended reading and extended 414 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,120 time of thinking about this. But in summary, you can sum it 415 00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:06,840 up this way. Peter goes from denying Christ 416 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,760 before a servant girl to proclaiming him boldly before 417 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:14,280 the authorities by witnessing the resurrection of Jesus and by 418 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,360 being filled with the Holy Spirit. 419 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,400 Now it says when they saw the boldness in verse 13 of Peter 420 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:23,800 and John. This word boldness is very 421 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,360 important for us. It comes up in the book of Acts 422 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:29,880 3 times and all three times are in our text today. 423 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,480 So Luke is encouraging us to look at this idea, this theme of 424 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,480 boldness and boldness. Very Simply put, it's just this 425 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:41,760 ability to speak frankly, to speak the truth is often used in 426 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:46,480 political context to say about a someone running for office or in 427 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:51,760 office that they spoke the truth without worrying about risk to 428 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,360 the reputation or risk to themselves. 429 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,000 And that's what Peter and John do. 430 00:26:56,360 --> 00:27:00,360 They speak boldly and they perceived that they were 431 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:04,920 uneducated and untrained men and they marvelled at this and they 432 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:06,920 realized that they had been with Jesus. 433 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:11,000 Now by uneducated and untrained, what Luke is not saying is that 434 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,920 the that Peter and John weren't brilliant. 435 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,760 He's saying that they weren't educated. 436 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,080 The the elites are realizing these men didn't go to our 437 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,880 universities. They didn't get educated the way 438 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,720 that most people do. For them. 439 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,760 They had what they would call rabbis, or what might translate 440 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,240 for us roughly as the Ivy Leagues. 441 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,040 And most of us could probably name a few, if not all of the 442 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,320 Ivy League schools, right, Harvard, Princeton, Yale. 443 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,600 And they knew these rabbis that would have disciples. 444 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,680 And a lot of those disciples were known by these people. 445 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:52,240 And what they're saying is these two guys did not come through 446 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,640 one of our Ivy League rabbis. They are brilliant and they are 447 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:59,160 wise and they're using scripture well and they're doing 448 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,480 incredible things, but they're subversive. 449 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,560 And it reminds us a lot of that guy Jesus, because he too didn't 450 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,360 come through the normal rabbi school and came out of this 451 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:10,880 place called Nazareth, which nothing good comes from there. 452 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:16,720 And he subverted the whole nation, so much so that we just 453 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:17,760 had, we had to put them to death. 454 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,520 And they realized these men, by their boldness and by their 455 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:27,200 training, had been with Jesus. And verse 14, it says that they 456 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,640 see the man who had been healed standing there and they realize 457 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:32,760 something. These Peter and John men are 458 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:34,920 brilliant and this man is healed. 459 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:37,720 There's not a whole lot we can do today. 460 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,000 So they send to Peter and John out and they deliberate. 461 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,800 They talk across the circle to one another and they realize 462 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,720 something. We can't do anything, but we can 463 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:53,160 be incredibly harsh with them and give them a very stern 464 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,640 warning. And so they call Peter and John 465 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,000 back in and they warned them. They say if you speak the name 466 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,840 of Jesus or preach his Kingdom anymore, then we will deal with 467 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:05,400 you severely. It'll be awful for you. 468 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:06,760 You're not going to like what we're going to do. 469 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,840 And Peter again brilliantly responds by putting the leaders 470 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:16,480 in this tough position of choosing between God and their 471 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,920 own judgment. He says this in verse 19. 472 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:25,240 Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more 473 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:30,560 than God, you judge. But we're going to keep 474 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,480 preaching the gospel for why we cannot but speak the things 475 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:40,200 which we've seen and heard. Peter says we have to talk about 476 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,640 this. You got to punish us. 477 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,360 Punish us, but we will not be silent. 478 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:51,560 And scene #3 In this third scene, we see the conflict 479 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:56,000 between Peter and John, and the elites of the city come to a 480 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,720 head. And we see Peter, who once 481 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,120 backed down to a servant girl, stand up for Jesus by the power 482 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,560 of the Spirit, witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus. 483 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:11,360 And we see them preach boldly. Now the Holy Spirit is in them 484 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,760 giving the words to say. So to recap real quick, just to 485 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,920 make sure we're all tracking with the stories so far, Peter 486 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,640 and John heal a man who's been lame for 40 years. 487 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,080 They go into the temple, He's rejoicing. 488 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,680 The people are marvelling. Peter preaches A sermon that 489 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:33,200 causes the church to grow almost double in size and causes him 490 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,520 and John to be thrown in prison and taken to court to be 491 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:41,640 questioned by the cultural elite, to which they stand up 492 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,280 faithfully and boldly proclaiming the name and the 493 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:50,160 Kingdom of Jesus and offering forgiveness and repentance, the 494 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,960 opportunity to repent to everybody involved. 495 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:00,480 And that's Monday in the life of a follower of Jesus, in the life 496 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,520 of a spirit filled the person. And at this point I'd like to 497 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:07,960 address possibly for you and me, an elephant in the room. 498 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,440 If this is what the life of a spirit filled person looks like, 499 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:18,400 then how was your last Monday? How was my last Monday? 500 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:21,640 Or maybe, you know, let's be generous. 501 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,800 How was our last week? Or maybe there there's a 502 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,400 particular season in your life that you can look to and not 503 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,160 that you went to the temple and healed someone and preached the 504 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,720 gospel to Jewish people who had put Jesus on the cross. 505 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:38,040 But just simply shared the the good news with God's Kingdom 506 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,840 boldly and honestly with a a friend who you love and trusted 507 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,960 God to to move miraculously and do things in their life and 508 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,760 their heart that you couldn't do ordinarily by yourself. 509 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,480 How many of us have spent a Monday or Tuesday or a season 510 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,120 like that? And maybe you're leaning in at 511 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:00,160 that and saying maybe you haven't, but I would like to. 512 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,960 If that's you, this scene, the last scene scene #4 is for you. 513 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:12,960 So lean into this with me. Verse 23 of chapter 4. 514 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,320 And being let go, they went to their own companions. 515 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,560 They went to the church, and they reported all the chief 516 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:22,080 priests and elders had said to them. 517 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:23,920 So they go to their community and they say, hey, guess what 518 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:24,920 happened? We got arrested. 519 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:30,240 And here's what they said. And verse 24, they all heard it. 520 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,440 The whole community, the whole church heard it. 521 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:33,880 And then they lifted their voices. 522 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:40,200 They began to sing in unity, and they said, this Lord, you are 523 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:44,720 God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that's in 524 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:47,320 them, who by the mouth of your servant David. 525 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,720 And now they're going to sing some words from Psalm #2. 526 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,760 Why did the nation's rage in the people's plot? 527 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,840 Vain things. The kings of the earth took 528 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,280 their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the 529 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:04,280 Lord and against his Christ. And as they sing these words 530 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,600 from Psalm 2, they would have had the imagery of Psalm 2, the 531 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,560 rest of it in their brain and on their minds and in their hearts. 532 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:15,560 And one of my favorite parts of Psalm 2 comes in verse 4, and it 533 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,960 says this David writes, he who sits in the heavens, meaning 534 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:25,680 Jesus shall laugh, shall hold them in derision, meaning that 535 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,640 Jesus looks at the authorities, He looks at the kings of the 536 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:33,360 earth, He looks at the nations and trying to usurp authority 537 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,520 and take authority. And he laughs. 538 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:38,920 Why? Because he knows his Kingdom is 539 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,960 the Kingdom, the everlasting Kingdom that will trump every 540 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,320 other Kingdom. And he knows he is the king who 541 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,160 has won a decisive victory. And so the church picks up this 542 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:53,440 song and they sing these words and they continue for truly 543 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,520 against your holy servant Jesus, whom you've appointed, anointed 544 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,480 both Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of 545 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,560 Israel. Everyone involved were gathered 546 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:06,760 together to do whatever your hand and your purposes 547 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,120 determined before to be done. In other words, they just did 548 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,360 what you had planned, what you had prophesied, what you had 549 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:14,400 told. You've been in control all the 550 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:15,159 time. God. 551 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:21,920 Now lean into verse 29. Now, Lord, look on their 552 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:26,560 threats, and grant to your servants that we with all 553 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:33,199 boldness may speak your word by stretching out your hand to 554 00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:37,480 heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of 555 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:43,360 your holy servant, Jesus. What does God say to this? 556 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,000 What does he do? Verse 31? 557 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,639 And when they prayed, the place where they were assembled 558 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:52,000 together was shaken in answer to the prayer for signs and wonders 559 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:53,760 to be done. And they were all filled with 560 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,199 the Holy Spirit. And they spoke the word of God 561 00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:58,480 with what? With boldness. 562 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:03,080 Again, answer to prayer. And you see what they did right? 563 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,440 How did their Mondays look so different? 564 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:09,200 How did their Mondays look so powerful? 565 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,320 How did their lives operate so transformedly? 566 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,520 They asked. It reminds me of a often quoted 567 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:22,240 teaching of Jesus with the probably just as often forgotten 568 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:25,440 ending. It's the parable that you're 569 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:27,880 probably familiar with, the ask, seek, knock. 570 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:29,640 He says ask and it should be given to you. 571 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,320 Seek and you'll find knock and the door will be open to you. 572 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:35,680 And then he says, you all have fathers. 573 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:37,400 God's even better than that Father. 574 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,800 He's so loving and kind. And we apply that in all kinds 575 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,160 of ways, beautiful ways, helpful ways, good ways. 576 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,760 But Jesus, how does he apply it? What's his his end of his little 577 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,320 little sermon there, his little point. 578 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,240 He says this if you then being evil know how to give a good 579 00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:57,960 gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father 580 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:03,600 give the Holy Spirit? How much more will God to give 581 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,280 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? 582 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,240 And so I wonder if the reason that our Mondays don't 583 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:17,400 necessarily look like these is because we've often simply 584 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:23,760 forgotten to ask God to move, to show up, and then anticipated 585 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,760 that he'd actually do that, and then obeyed him as he put things 586 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,880 on our heart, people on our minds called us to step out in 587 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,480 faith. Maybe then we'd be ordinary 588 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:39,120 people doing extraordinary things as disciples of Jesus, 589 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:43,440 filled with his Holy Spirit. Now, if you'll allow me just a 590 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,880 moment of honesty, there's some teachings as a pastor that you 591 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,880 give that you feel like I've mostly got that one. 592 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:54,000 And then there's others that you give and you think, I humbly, I 593 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,240 think I've almost nailed this one. 594 00:36:56,240 --> 00:37:00,120 And then there's others like this for me that you share and 595 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:05,200 you realize you have so much room to grow in so many ways to 596 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,080 make progress in living this way. 597 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,200 And as I share this, I have some people in my mind that are in 598 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:15,080 our church family that I am so grateful for that are living 599 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:18,600 pictures of this. Think of people who one guy who 600 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,560 works a white collar job in Boise. 601 00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:25,760 And when I talk to him about his workplace and his family, he 602 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:30,160 tells me about how he's living by the Spirit and leading people 603 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,360 to Jesus, the conversations that he has the ways God's moving to 604 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:35,760 people's lives in response to prayers he's prayed. 605 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:40,280 He told me once that living this way is almost feels like he's 606 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,800 living in a movie because the hands of God is the director 607 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:46,400 seem to be all over his day that everywhere he goes seems like 608 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:48,520 God's gone beforehand and prepared his way. 609 00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:51,920 Think of another man who's a mentor of mine that when I sit 610 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:54,600 with him, it doesn't feel like I'm talking to him. 611 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:57,040 It feels like I'm talking to God through him. 612 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:00,120 Just normal average guy in our church family. 613 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,440 Just a little bit more further along in the journey of 614 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:07,400 discipleship than I and think of another guy who his whole life 615 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,280 is spent living the way of Jesus. 616 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:16,480 He's a blue collar worker and he's made connections across the 617 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,640 globe with missionaries, with people who speak different 618 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,960 languages, with Muslims. He's sharing the gospel with all 619 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,800 because he just listens to the prompting of the Spirit to go 620 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:31,560 and say and do what he feels like he's called to say and do. 621 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,520 There's others in our church Fin that that I'm so grateful for. 622 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:39,240 We're so grateful for and what we have. 623 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:41,880 I think a good, good group of people living this way in our 624 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,440 church. I think that if we were a church 625 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:50,120 that desires to be people who love God, live like Jesus and 626 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,480 let the Spirit lead that last one, let the Spirit lead. 627 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:56,160 If we're just honest, might be maybe one of our our weaker 628 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:01,160 points like myself, and we're in a church that we know the Bible 629 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,720 so well. I'd put our church up against 630 00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:06,760 any other church in town, our knowledge of the Bible, and I'd 631 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:10,000 put our culture right up against a lot of other cultures when it 632 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:11,400 comes to thinking through things. 633 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:15,600 We live in a culture that's all logic, all material. 634 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,800 And so it can be hard sometimes to live according to the Spirit 635 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:26,120 because it might feel a bit bold, a bit unlogical, a bit 636 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:33,840 scary, or require us to rely on something other than the exact 637 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,520 written word to go on a hunch to this. 638 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,120 I think it's supposed to say something to that person or pray 639 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:43,320 for them. And So what I would love to do 640 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:48,280 with hope and anticipation is lean into living this way. 641 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,480 Tucker shared a couple weeks ago is the open to access quote from 642 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,960 AW Tozer. I want to read it again because 643 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,400 I think it it points out a truth about our our current moment as 644 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:03,600 a church, as a church culture. If the Holy Spirit, Tozer says, 645 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:08,120 was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would 646 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:09,920 go on and no one would know the difference. 647 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:13,000 But if the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament 648 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,560 church, the church were reading about in Acts, 95% of what they 649 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,160 would did would stop and everybody would know the 650 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,000 difference. In closing, I'd like to do 651 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,120 something just a little bit different and spend a few 652 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:31,000 moments joining with the the church we see here in Acts 4 in 653 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:35,640 prayer and joining with the church throughout history that's 654 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:41,920 prayed some version of this prayer come Holy Spirit, meaning 655 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:45,440 not that he's not here already. He's present in our hearts and 656 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:50,560 in our midst, but more or less saying come in the sense of wake 657 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:54,560 us up to your presence. Help us to become aware of what 658 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:56,960 you're asking us to do and how you're asking us to live. 659 00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:01,400 Help us to live with boldness and with power that comes from 660 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,280 you. Thanks for joining us today. 661 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,320 If you would like to watch the full service, check out the link 662 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,160 in the description. For next steps and to learn 663 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,440 more, visit calvaryboise.com.