Friends, the the title for my talk today is this the cross,
God's answer to the mind and the heart.
And the verse that's the anchor for this talk is Acts 2 verse
36. It says Jesus says this.
This Jesus whom you sacrificed, God has raised.
This should give a bit of context.
This is Peter speaking to a crowd.
After that, the Holy Spirit has descended at Pentecost.
So he's calling them to repent and believe in Jesus, right?
So by church this is what many believers miss.
Like the cross didn't save souls, but the cross created a
people, a community, right? And like this right now, what we
are doing right now and the beautiful word that we use for
this gathering is church with me.
So if you look to even to the original word in Greek, which is
Ecclesius, which means a cold out assembly or gathered people.
So even if we look back to the Acts 236, Acts 2 is not random.
It is not random. So Pentecost, even though we're
not in a Pentecost, in the Pentecost Sunday, Pentecost is
not a Holy Spirit fireworks display.
It's the moment the cross becomes humanity, humanity.
So Peter, there we have Peter stands up on Pentecost and what
does he preach on the cross? The cross, this Jesus whom you
sacrifice, God has raised. And if we look to this verse
again, we can take away three things.
The first one is this repentance, the baptisms in the
Spirit and the instant born of the church.
If we strip down a bit more, we can take away these three
things, cross Spirit Church. And then if we carry on to Acts
242, we have this Acts 242, And they devoted themselves to the
apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of
the breads and the prayers. But I want to carry on until
verse 43. This is verse 43 right now.
And all came up upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were
being done through the apostles and awe, awe came upon every
soul and many wonders and sign were being done through the
apostles. So there are four things that we
can take away from this passage. First one, the apostles teaching
second fellowship. Third, breaking bread and 4th
prayer. So #1 apostles teachings pretty
much is the cross revelation continued as getting deeper in
the word of the Lords is the cross continue?
Is the cross revelation continued?
And then we have #2 fellowship is that the cross reconciles us
not only to God, but to each other.
Again, the cross, the, the cross is that has this beautiful thing
as moving towards, towards, to Jesus, but not only that, the
move, the cross move towards one another.
This is the beautiful thing about community, this church.
And #3 what we did this morning, the breaking of the bread cross
remembered in the century of the table.
And what does it, what the, what the table means for us as a
Kingdom of God is a place where everyone belongs that we can
come and can we can get our spiritual food is US saying to
the Lord, Lord, your bread, your blood is enough.
I'm fully content with your sacrifice.
And then #4 prayer, which means cross people expect God to move
in power, expect God to move in power again.
Are we ready to see, to see the Lord moving in power in our
remains? Are we ready?
So every time that we, even if
we pray the Lord's prayer, Lord, let your Kingdom come, your will
be done on earth as it is in heaven.
When we pray on earth as it is in heaven, pretty much we're
saying there's a standard in heaven that we must follow.
There's a certain parade in heaven that's happening right
now that we are green. We're praying that it's going to
happen on earth. Question is, are we ready?
Are we taking this serious? Especially times like this
church that we need to raise up. Things are going mad and we need
to be grounded in what is solid. We need to place our feet on a
solid rock and we will not be shaken on earth as it is in
heaven, on earth as it is in heaven.
So this, the simple message was this.
So it was the cross and resurrection that was their
message. Simple, the cross, resurrection.
The cross means forgiveness and reconciliation means new
creature. We are born again.
And what was the result? They see grace and power in
their community. Grace and power in their
community. So every time we gaze upon the
beauty of the Lord, every time we we, we see.
When we look to the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus in the cross,
what's the result of us moving towards the cross?
Grace and power in US, raising power in us.
But if we go back in Acts 2, if we go back to only two verses
verse Acts 431, I just remember this verse powerful Acts 431,
Acts 431. Hear this church, when they had
prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was
shaken, and when they are and when they were all filled and
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to
speak the word of God with boldness.
Can we imagine if we keep moving towards the cross, moving
towards one another, if we keep going back, if you keep going
back to the table, stay at the table and we keep feeding from
that table. And then after that the table
that leads us to prayer because we cannot stand.
We cannot stand in the presence of the Lord and don't respond to
His beauty. But the beautiful thing about
this passage was that this was normal for them.
But did you see the word I used before?
Can we imagine? No, this should be normal.
Can you believe one? Can you imagine?
Look at this, imagine I'm using again these words.
One day we see this whole warehouse shaking because the
people of God has finally raised.
But this again, for them, this is was normal.
Normal. When are we going to take these
things serious? As I said many times here
before, I'm a Baptist. I have a Baptist background and
appreciate Alamein in a charismatic environment.
Yes, grace and power in their community.
So what I'm saying is that the early church was not built by
preference, not by a really cool music or a really cool branding
or a good preacher. The early church was built
simply by the Cross Church. Again, simple message.
Simple message even every every time you come to a Sunday
morning, my friends, the Sunday morning when the holy people are
gathered should be in an overflow of your daily life with
Jesus. As simple as that, as simple as
that. So as we keep looking to the
cross, my friend, for some the cross is only like a religious
symbol. But my hope is that the cross
for us is the center, the center of reality for us.
Every time we come on Sunday mornings to see the the building
shaking should be normal for us, for us to look for us to move
towards on another should be normal for us, for us to deliver
forgiveness should be normal for us.
For us to have the the to break the bread should be normal for
us. But you're probably wondering,
Edouard, you have no idea what's going on in my life, the things
I'm going through. But this wonderful friend called
Saint Augustine, he quoted this, this wonderful friend that I
haven't met, and he said this God had one son without sin, but
never one without suffering, never one without suffering.
So there we have Jesus hanging on that old tree, 100% men, 100%
gods. But what he was trying to
communicate to us is this, that you, you can't over, you can't
overcome sin. He got attempted in every single
way possible to say to you, to all of us, you can do it, but
you need to move forward towards the cross.
God had one son without sin, but never one without suffering.
Remember something right now. So last week we had our
wonderful space online and on site on Wednesdays as we
continue to fast as a church. If you don't know, we're fasting
as a church every Wednesday over lunchtime from 1:00 PM to 2:00
PM. So you can join us here in
person. Also, you can watch online, but
I had this moment where I was like so grateful for the unite
of Kingdom from Charles Porgens with John Wesley and so on and
so on. Friends, God has chosen the
knight of Kingdom with great revivalists in the past,
evangelists. And I have to say, these people,
they impacted my nation, Brazil, so much.
There's something special in the soil of England.
I don't know if you can feel it, but that's revivals in the air.
Catch if you can, catch if you can.
Are you ready? So then we have this, yes, we
had this wonderful moment where we were just giving thanks to
God for the United Kingdom. My friends, your history is
amazing. When it comes to the gospel,
it's amazing. It's so rich.
And as a Brazilian, I'm so grateful for for you and for
your history. Yes, God, yes.
So then we have this wonderful professor at Oxford University
called John Lennox. This wonderful brother is still
with us, and he quoted this If God simply announced forgiveness
from far away, we would suspect he doesn't take justice
seriously. The cross is God, God stepping
into history. The cross is where God takes
evil and justice seriously in himself, the God of
Christianity. Christianity does not watch
suffering from distance. He carries it and he bleeds into
the world he made so that we have Jesus again on the cross,
His blood dripping for all of us.
This is the same blood that we drink from, the same body that
we eat from. Lord, give me Jesus, give me
Jesus. When are you, when are you going
to to invite Jesus to be in your marriage again?
When are you going to bring Jesus when you can?
When are you going to invite Jesus to be at the to be at the
center of your table in your house?
When you're going to have Family Services again at your house,
your parents and your kids together?
Does it have to be something like 2 hours of service?
I know it can be painful for the kids, but something that you're
going to bring you guys together.
I'm giving practical tips, if you can call it.
Yeah, he works. Fluffy works, right?
So see your kids, they all love Jesus.
So when you're going to bring Jesus back to the be the center
of your life, your family, your marriage.
So then Sunday mornings, does it become more like you'll come
here to expect some fame. You'll come to give because it's
an overflow of your life devoted to Jesus, devoted to Jesus.
I really hope to see one day is this building shaking, shaking.
And these days is coming. These days are coming.
Jesus. Lord forgive us that we we've
come so lazy to be in our presence.
We find church so comfortable. We keep chasing not for
happiness, but you. It's clear the Christianity is
about suffering, but with that we have Jesus up on the cross
and that you we can do it. So the cross is the Bernie
century of transformation. And then, then, then we have
again another Englishman called John Wesley saying this.
The blood of Christ is the life of the believer, the life of the
believer. So the cross is not only, but
simply the moment. It's not simply the moment we we
get forgiven. It's the power you live from.
Everything from flows from the cross.
Everything flows from your devotion to Jesus.
So the cross is not only a pardon, it's purity, it's not
only washing, it's empowering. So for John Wesley, grace not
only removes guilt, grace breaks the power of sin.
So then we have Romans 66. Our old self was crucified with
him and then called Galatians. 220I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. So the cross for us needs to be
felt and lived. We need to feel it.
But this is the life. This is where we live from,
where we get our food from, our needs from.
So with all of this being said, the cross answers the mind and
the heart. So the cross is not only true,
this is the big statement today, the cross is not only true, the
cross is transforming. It's not only historically
defensible, but historically invades me in you.
So the cross of cross is evidence.
So the cross is not only a merely how how I get to heaven,
but how heaven gets into me and you.
But did you see that I'm throwing the responsibility back
at you? Is all of us responsibility?
All of us? And as you, as you say, yes,
this beautiful sacrifice of Jesus, when you take these
things serious again, what does it mean?
It means a new power, new identity, new affection. 2
Corinthians 517 If anyone is in Christ, therefore new creation,
praise him, all be creatures. Yeah, Jesus Christ has risen,
yes, praise him all in nations. He has bought our freedom.
I'd love for us to to move to a time of ministry again.
The way we should respond is always to is always on this,
this beautiful thing where it's like.
You see the Lord and He's there with so much power, grace, love,
and you respond based on that reality, the gaze upon the Lord.
We look at Him, and then we do the first step.
So worship is about giving, as you know, but that's the
invitation for us today. So come to the cross again, not
only to be forgiven, but to be remade.
So if you want freedom from old patterns, fresh power against
sin, a new heart affection, A renewed first love, even if
you're asking the Lord, Lord, make my heart tender again,
Lord, may my heart tender towards one another.
Lord, make my heart tender towards you.
I want to invite you to step forward, not to earn anything,
but to to receive everything that Christ paid for you.
I know that moving forward doesn't.
You don't get any special anointing or extra power.
But this is you publicly saying to the body of Christ, yes, I
want to come back to the cross. Yeah, let's always stand.