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Let's pray. Lord, we thank You
for the revelation of Your Son, Jesus, and how You've transformed
the world through Him. We pray that You would fill us
up with the knowledge of Your will, that You would give us
a greater sense of Your power and Your desire that we be Your
witnesses in the world. Lord, that You would Place upon
us a mantle of holiness and truth so that we would do the things
that we saw in the book of Acts. Amen. Okay, so here we are in
the book of Acts. Acts absolutely is one of the
most exciting books in the Bible. It's chock full of action and
ideas. There's conflict. And the whole
focus of the book of Acts is found in this statement, you
shall receive power. So today I wanna spend our time
introducing the book and then examining various elements of
the book, and then ending up with 12 marks of the church that
turned the world upside down. This was the church that turned
the world upside down. First of all, the heartbeat of
the Book of Acts is summed up in two words, power and witnesses. This word dunamis is coupled
with another word that explains the activities in Acts and that
is the word witnesses you shall receive power and you shall be
my witnesses and this of course is is uttered in Acts chapter
1 verses 7 and 8 when the Lord Jesus Christ said it is not for
you to know times and epics which the father has fixed by his own
authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part
of the earth. So that summarizes what you're
going to read about. in the book of Acts. The word
witnesses occurs 39 times and it really speaks about the whole
mission and the life of a Christian. And that is to be a witness of
Jesus Christ. To declare His glory. To reflect
His nature. To be an imitator of Jesus Christ. To be fashioned after the image
of what the Bible calls the heavenly man. And that's the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. And so, What you find here is
that the gospel, as a result of this power, it's not bound
by institutional or geographical constraints, but the glory of
God runs free throughout the world, as you'll see demonstrated
in the book of Acts. The glory of God is demonstrated
in every imaginable place, public squares, prisons, when somebody
is arrested in homes, in synagogues. And by the way, when you read
the book of Acts, you'll notice there are many, many homes, places
where people live, where the gospel's power is demonstrated. A fascinating study is to study
the gospels and the book of Acts and ask, what happens in homes?
And then you should ask, what's happening in my home? The geographical
reach of the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ is spoken of
and that is that the reach of the church is not just local,
it's also global. Because these witnesses began
in Jerusalem and then fanned out to Judea and Samaria and
ultimately to the uttermost parts of the earth. Now one of the
things that we should recognize is in the midst of this expansion
of the life of Jesus being demonstrated in the world, It did not go on
unopposed. It was viciously opposed by governments,
by religious leaders, by philosophers, really all the basic categories
of power in the world found themselves resisting the power of the gospel.
They could not resist it. Let's talk about the author of
the book of Acts. The book of Acts is written by Luke. Now,
Luke wrote two volumes that appear in scripture. The first volume
is the Gospel of Luke. Now, Luke and Acts actually belong
together, and you'll sometimes find commentaries putting them
together, but Luke is volume one, the glory of Jesus Christ,
the Word made flesh, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. That's the Gospels and the Gospel
of Luke. And then you have the Acts of
the Apostles, and they do belong together. They're actually better
read together, because Luke is writing with a sense of continuity. Luke is also a historian. His method is very clearly delineated. He's a very careful historian.
He's not a haphazard storyteller that pulls one thing from here
and another thing from this era. He tries to be very chronologically
sequenced. in his testimony, and you can
see this demonstrated in Luke chapter 1, 1 through 5, where
he speaks about his technique, where he says that he is compiling
an account of things that were accomplished, handed down from
those who saw them by very eyewitnesses. But Luke is a historian, and
you can see the orderly way that he compiled his account, as he
says. And he took the testimony of
eyewitnesses. He says that he investigated
everything thoroughly. These are words that he uses
as he describes how he wrote down the testimony of Jesus in
consecutive order. So he has a very orderly approach.
Luke is not just a historian, he's also a physician. from both
Luke and Acts, you see that he understood the medical terminology
of the day, and some have even taken Luke and Acts to try to
develop a medical terminology of the ancient world. Luke was
also a traveler with Paul. They traveled together. You find
the word we, there are the we passages. You find this in the
book of Acts. In Luke 21, 17, you see that
Luke arrived in Jerusalem with Paul, and then Luke left with
him to go on their voyage to Rome, which is recorded in Acts
27, verse 1. So Luke was with the Apostle
Paul. He saw it. He saw the demonstration of the
power of the gospel through the Apostle Paul. Now, let's talk
about the time frame of the book of Acts. The book covers the
first 30 years. of the history of the church.
And during these 30 years, the world was turned upside down.
Luke begins by recounting what happened during the 40 days that
Jesus presented himself alive. That's how Acts begins, right
after his resurrection. Jesus' last words to his disciples
foretell, in summary form, what is going to happen in the next
30 years and beyond. And you read this in Luke chapter
24, verses 46 through 48. These words that Jesus uttered
in Luke 24 are fulfilled and demonstrated in the book of Acts. And here's what you see. The
resurrection took place, repentance and remission from sins. It was
preached in His name. And the message did spread among
the nations beginning in Jerusalem. And Jesus' final words are contained
in this section in Luke 24, that they did not depart from Jerusalem
but to wait for a promise. Luke 24, 53 records, and they
worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and
were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. And then after that they returned
to the city and they find themselves in a home meeting and this little
band of 120 disciples, they're faithfully waiting on the coming
of the Holy Spirit. So then after that now, Luke
records the next 30 years of the work of the Holy Spirit.
Now look what can happen in 30 years of the moving of the Holy
Spirit. Come to think of it, I was talking
to Deborah and Claudia this morning. And I was telling them that it's
possible that I have 30 more years left. I wasn't even thinking
of the book of Acts. But think of what can happen
in 30 years of a lifespan. I've been a believer for over
40 years. It's a period of time, it's a
period of time longer than the period of time recorded in the
book of Acts. Think of what marvelous things
can happen in just thirty years. Don't despise what God can do in a short period
of time like that. Who knows what can happen in
your lifetime? Don't lose hope. When God pours his spirit out,
the earth shakes, people tremble, nations change. And don't think
for a second that when you look around in this world today, as
bad as it seems, that God can't dramatically transform people's
lives. He can, and I believe that he
will. But the book of Acts spans only a 30-year time frame. And what can happen to a people
who have it in their minds, who say, not my words, but your words,
not by my spirit, but by your spirit, O Lord, not my possessions,
Lord, but yours. What do you think can happen
with a group of people like that? So, the book of Acts spans only
a 30-year period. Remarkable, isn't it? Now, look
at the name of the book of Acts. It's called the Acts of the Apostles. Others have supplied more descriptive
names than just the Acts. Some have called this the Acts
of Jesus Christ through the church, or the Acts of God's people empowered
by the Holy Spirit. One theologian suggested that
it might be best described as the continuing words and deeds
of Jesus by His Spirit through the apostles. That was the late
John Stott who said that. So, the name of the book of Acts,
I think, should instruct us about what this is all about. Here's
one thing I love about the book of Acts. It has a very simple
outline. Look at the outline. The first
half is the birth of the church, Acts 1-12. Peter is prominent
in the first 12 chapters. of the book of Acts, and then
the second half speaks of the expansion of the church, which
spans from chapter 13 to chapter 28. And the apostle Paul is prominent
from chapter 13 on. So you get these two great apostles
and their ministries explained in the book of Acts. Let's talk
about the features of the book of Acts. And I'd like to just
talk about some of the people, some of the philosophies, some
of the groups that you'll meet in the Book of Acts. To me, this
is one of the most amazing things about the Book of Acts. It covers
such a breadth of people and philosophies and positions that
people take. Like, for example, personalities. You meet Abraham, Agabus, Ananias
and Sapphira, Apollos, Artemis, Caiaphas, Barnabas, Bernice,
Caesar, Cornelius, Crispus, Demetrius the silversmith, Drusilla, Felix,
Festus, Galio, Gamaliel, Herod Agrippa, Herod Antipas, you meet
James, you meet John the Baptist, you meet Lydia, and Mark, and
Moses, and Paul, and Peter, and Philip, and Philip's daughters,
and Pontius Pilate, Priscilla and Aquila, you gotta pick up
what's going on with Priscilla and Aquila, what a great, little
couple that's there in the book of Acts. The seven sons of Sceva. Wow. Aristarchus, Timothy, Tychicus,
Silas, Simon the sorcerer, Theophilus, and the women of prominence and
the leading men in chapter 13. So you bump into all kinds of
absolutely fascinating characters in the book of Acts. Now notice
also the interesting people groups. that are there in the Book of
Acts. The Athenians, the Epicureans, the Asiarchs, the Gentiles, the
God-fearers. You've got to learn about the
God-fearers. The Greeks, the Hellenists, the idol-worshippers,
the Judaizers, the Pharisees, the Proselytes, the Sadducees,
the Sanhedrin. And some of my favorite, the
Stoic philosophers. By the way, we're in First John
in our church right now. And John is addressing the false
doctrine of the Stoics. And you meet the Sanhedrin. You
meet the people of the way. How about that? That's who we
are. The people of the way. It's beautiful. You meet the
Zealots as well. And notice the places that you
go to. You're going to go to the beautiful
gate and see what happens in the beautiful gate. you'll go
to Solomon's portico, you'll go to Antioch and Arabia and
Asia and Athens and Caesarea and Corinth and Cyprus and Damascus
and Derbe and Ephesus and Galilee and Iconium and Jerusalem and
Judea and Lystra and Mytilene and Kos and Rhodes and Phoenicia
and Macedonia and Spain and Syria and Tarsus and all kinds of places. Acts takes you to all these remarkable
places where amazing things happened by the power of the Spirit of
God. Here's one thing that Acts makes it very plain to us, and
that is that Jesus Christ works in places, cities, roads. Real
places. Jesus is real, and he does his
work in real historical places. The Bible is not a book of mythology. It's a book of real places. You
can go there today, and you can stand pretty much on the same
place that the Apostle Paul stood. The Bible is not a book of myths.
Okay, so those are some of the fascinating, wonderful features
of this book. Now, I'd like to slow down a
little bit, and I'd like to speak of 12 marks of the church that
turned the world upside down. And when you read the book of
Acts, you will see these qualities of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'll just dictate them very quickly
and then we'll go back and take them one by one. It was a transforming
church. Secondly, it was a worshiping
church. Third, a praying church. Fourth, a persecuted church.
Fifth, a relational church. Sixth, an enthusiastic church.
Seventh, a missionary church. Eighth, a bold church. Ninth,
a gospel preaching church. Tenth, a vigorously taught church. Eleventh, an elder-led church,
twelfth a spirit-filled church. So we'll walk through each one
of these one by one. So let's begin with a transforming
church. One example of this happens in
Thessalonica. The gospel came to Thessalonica,
great multitudes came to the Lord, and it included Greeks
and the city went into an uproar and a mob gathered and Jews who
were not converted were envious and they became bloodthirsty
and the tumult was rising. There was a violent mob that
began to search for Paul and Silas who entered the city. Acts
chapter 17 verse 6 we read this but when they could not find
them they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the
city crying out These who have turned the world upside down
have come here to okay word was spreading that Jesus Christ is
alive and they weren't welcome. But they have turned the world
upside down. And throughout the book of Acts,
we see whole cities impacted. Jerusalem is thrown into an uproar. Why? By a lame man who is healed. And a persecution breaks out
against the church because of that lame man who is healed.
In Rome, there were enough believers within 30 years of the resurrection
to cause Nero to blame the fire that burned the city to the ground
on the Christians. And he enacted laws to regulate
Christians. People of all walks of life were
rescued by the gospel as it was preached. We see lots of personal
transformation. Not only do you see whole cities
thrown into an uproar where there are riots and tumults in stadiums
and city streets and synagogues. Not only that, you see on the
micro level of the power of the gospel in people's lives and
what happens to individual people. and how profound the power of
the gospel is. You know, at the end of the gospels,
you see Simon Peter denying the Lord. And after the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, what happens? He's a different man. The Spirit
of God changed him. Luke recounts that Saul of Tarsus
was breathing threats against the church, and yet, He is converted,
and he begins to breathe life into the church. You find Barnabas,
who was an aristocratic, land-owning Levite. You learn about him in
Acts 4, 36. And you find him giving his land away for the
needs of the Jerusalem church. And he's called the son of encouragement. He's a brother who encourages
his brethren through his generosity. And he stands in the long line
of aristocratic and wealthy people who are saved. They use their
resources for the power of the gospel. We meet Philip in Acts
chapter 6 verse 5. He's a deacon. He's an evangelist.
And then he moves to Caesarea for about 20 years. And he raises
his family there in Caesarea. And his household is characterized
by evangelism. God has given him, in Caesarea,
this remarkable lot of daughters. He has these four godly daughters,
and they are called prophetesses. They speak the Word of God. On
their hearts is the Bible, and that's what they do. They speak
of how to apply the Bible to those in their reach. We meet James in chapter 6, verse
3. James, the brother of Jesus.
James, who did not believe in Jesus during his earthly ministry.
But now, after the resurrection, we find him in Acts 15. And who
is he in Acts 15? He's one of the most important
leaders in the Church of Jerusalem. He writes the Gospel of John.
He writes 1 John. He writes the book of Revelation.
We know that he didn't believe at one point. He scoffed at Jesus,
most likely. What happened? Times of refreshing
had come in, and transformation takes place. This is a transforming
church. Now, it's very important that
you understand that the mark of a true church is to transform
lives. That is the chief manifestation
of the gospel. If you have someone who claims
to be a Christian and their life hasn't been transformed and they're
not being transformed, there's no way that they can legitimately
claim that Jesus Christ has entered their life. And it's very important
in our day that we understand what regeneration is. Every revival
has its center in the doctrine of regeneration. where a true
doctrine of regeneration is preached. So it was a transforming church.
Secondly, it was a worshiping church. In Acts chapter 2, verses
37 through 47, you find that the church was worshiping together.
And they loved to be together and they loved to worship together.
They worshiped in homes. They worship in the marketplace.
They worship in the synagogue. They worship in the temple. They
worship in the amphitheater. They worship in the jail, okay? They worship wherever they go.
You know, you can relate to that. You're driving down the road
and you're crying out to God. You're walking down the street.
You're talking to someone on the phone. And there's this interchange,
there's this fellowship with God that takes place. But they
were a worshiping, church. And we find that their worship
wasn't bound to buildings. And we see the disciples worshiping
in spirit and in truth in a number of different contexts. But they
were a church that loved to come together and to worship. And
they loved to come together and to pray. You know, I often think
of our prayer meetings in our church. Now, the prayer meeting
that happened at the beginning of the book of Acts, in Acts
chapter 1, There were 120 people there. That prayer meeting wasn't
much different than our prayer meetings. It's fairly close to
the size of our prayer meetings. And imagine, imagine what good
can come from a little group of people praying in a home,
just like we did last night. They were a worshiping church.
When these people pray, things happen. They pray, prison doors
fly open. They pray, buildings are shaken. They pray, chains fall off. They
pray, lame men walk. And we see this focus on prayer
that should help us just to remember the blessing of prayer and how
God has given us this marvelous resource to cry out to Him. And
there's so many promises about prayer But in Acts chapter 114,
you see their passion for it. These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Now, in that one statement,
you learn quite a bit about prayer. These all continued with one
accord. It was united prayer. It was prayer and supplication.
In other words, it was declaring their dependence upon God and
they were also crying out for particular needs. It was prayer
of the whole church with the women and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, and with his brothers. And by the way, they're not praying
to Mary, okay? Mary is praying. That's significant. And Jesus' brothers are also
there as well. It seems that Jesus' brothers
had become converted at some point. In chapter 3 verse 1,
now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of
prayer, the ninth hour, and read what happens after that. It's
amazing. It's beautiful what happens.
In Acts chapter 6, 4, the elders said, but we will give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. In
Acts chapter 10, verse 31, Peter says, Cornelius, your prayer
has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of
God. In Acts chapter 12 verse 5, Peter was kept in prison,
but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. So Peter's in prison and the
whole church is praying for him. You know, whenever one of the
brothers or sisters is suffering some kind of difficulty, the
church should gather in prayer to pray for that person. In Acts
chapter 16 verse 13, And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the
city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made,
and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. A place
of prayer, the women are there, and the apostles go and speak
to them there on the Sabbath day. Acts 16, 16, now it happened. As we went to prayer, that a
certain slave girl, possessed with the spirit of divination,
met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling.
They're going to pray, and here this slave girl shows up. and
marvelous things happen. Here's one thing that you learn
about the incidences of prayer in the book of Acts, and that
is that miracles, remarkable happenings take place when people
are on the way to pray. It makes you sort of want to
be on your way to pray a little bit more. You never know what
might happen on the way to pray. So it was a praying church. It
was also a persecuted church. Number four, somebody said that
the problem with Christians today is that nobody wants to kill
them. And what this person is referring to is that Christians
don't speak the truth, and therefore, nobody needs to bother with them,
and nobody needs to bother them. And the statement is an indictment
upon a modern church which desires to fit in quite nicely into the
culture that it exists in. Rather than transforming the
culture, it is transformed by the culture. And that's always
a mark of an apostate church. But the early church was met
with rejection. And the persecution took many
different forms. You can categorize the different
forms of persecution in the book of Acts as you go through it.
You know, sometimes you had these extreme situations where the
multitudes rose up against them. Sometimes it was actual multitudes. Can you imagine that? That's
never happened to you or me. You know, the worst thing that's
ever happened to me is somebody just said something not very
nice about me. But the multitudes have not risen
up to, you know, tear me apart. Hasn't ever happened. But it
happened to the apostles many times. Jesus said, you shall
be my witnesses. Now, the word witness in the
book of Acts often appears up against the word keruso, preaching. To be a witness and to preach. And this is typically the reason
why there's persecution. And the word witness is the Greek
word from which we get our word martyr, martyrian. You shall
be my martyrian. You shall be my witnesses. You
shall be my martyrs. And the persecution always comes
at the preaching of the gospel and the various manifestations
of a transformed life. For example, in Ephesus, when
people started throwing away their idols, and burning their
idols, the persecution rose up. If you turn away from some of
the idols of the day, as they did in the book of Acts, you
will be persecuted. It may not have anything to do
directly with Jesus, but an idol that Jesus is telling you to
escape. And that's true persecution today. If you just try to apply
one thing in the Word of God, you might get persecuted. And
it's not because of the Gospel message. It's because you followed
you follow Jesus in some matter of life. And one of the most
dangerous things you can do in this world is to change your
life and not walk like everybody else walks. And that was really
why persecution took place. But what we learn is that the
gospel was disruptive to everything. Like for example, the spread
of the gospel in Ephesus had a negative effect on the economy
of Ephesus. because people quit buying idols.
And Demetrius the silversmith was infuriated because his business
was tanking because people were getting converted and they weren't
messing with those idols anymore. And there was a huge riot in
the amphitheater in Ephesus where 20,000 people were screaming
and yelling, great is Artemis of the Ephesians, one of the
goddesses. Claudia and I actually stood in that amphitheater a
few years ago. It's remarkable to picture what happened there.
It's amazing. But it was all because the economy
was being affected by the gospel. When you embrace the gospel,
it affects what you spend your money on. When people become
Christians, Hollywood is going to start hurting. It will. The
great idols of the day will be turned away from. You know, the gospel has an impact
on philosophy in Athens. The gospel has a disruptive impact
on worship in Lystra. You can read about it there.
But, you know, the persecution took on different forms. Not
only do you have multitudes coming against, but also there's the
form of belittling. That's probably the most common
form of persecution. Like, for example, on the day
of Pentecost, remember what the crowd said about the disciples?
They're drunk with wine. Well, they weren't drunk with
wine. They were the happiest, most loving people that they
had ever been, okay? And it was so shocking in contrast
to their former lives. They thought they were drunk,
but they weren't drunk at all. They were just different. They were happy, you
know? And they weren't weighed down
by the idols that they once served so much. You find the martyrdom
of Stephen. If you read Fox's book of martyrs,
you'll note that John Fox tells us that on the day that Stephen
was killed, there were 2,000 others who lost their lives that
day. Now the Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible just tells the story of Stephen being stoned. He's being covered with rocks
until he's dead. Can you imagine dying like that?
And then he rose up and he blessed his persecutors and he said,
lay not this sin on their account. He was the most loving man in
the room. Now, is it true that 2,000 were also killed on that
day? I don't know. It isn't the Bible that says
that 2,000 lost their lives. It was John Fox. It's tradition.
But there were various manifestations of persecution. In Acts chapter
14, verse 1, it was the Hellenistic Jews who stirred up the crowd
and poisoned the mines against the brethren. So you have this
poisoning of minds through slander and misinformation and misrepresentation. In Acts chapter 14 verse 19,
the Jews stoned Paul and they stoned him and they thought he
was dead. Now, was he playing dead? You know, every once in
a while you hear of a shooting and people play dead. You know, after the
shooter is removed, they get up and they say, I'm alive. Well,
that happens. I don't believe Paul was faking
dead. He was probably knocked out. But then he got up and and
he went back into the city. And the reality of the early
church is this, and it should be a reality of the modern church,
and I'll just quote this statement, through many tribulations we
must enter the kingdom of God. But in the midst of the persecutions,
God cares for his people, he nourishes them, And we notice
the very tender example of this when God comforts the Apostle
Paul. You'll read this in Acts 18,
9-10. This is God Himself comforting Paul. He says, Do not be afraid
any longer, but go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am
with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for
I have many people in this city. Isn't that amazing? God was just
encouraging Paul to go in and he wouldn't be attacked. Now,
there'd be other times when he would be attacked, but God was just comforting
him during that one situation. To go in the city, God said,
I have many people here, don't worry about it. So, it was a persecuted church. Number
five, it was a relational church. It was a church that was characterized
by cohesion, relationship, love, joy, meals together. They spent lots of time together.
They loved one another to such a degree that Some of them would
sell their possessions. It was a time of poverty in the
Jerusalem church, and so they needed to spread the wealth around
because of the difficulties that were upon them. And there are
so many instances, little snapshots, of beautiful church life. You
know, think about your own church life and the little beautiful
snapshots that you've seen. I mean, even in the last 24 hours,
I've seen several little snapshots of the church, very sweet little
things, things that you would just maybe ignore. But you think
about what the love of Jesus does in a church. You know, we find them, for example,
in the upper room, and their passion is toward God in chapter
two, and chapter four, verses 37 through 47, there's this description
of what they did together. They broke bread together from
house to house, singing and making melody in their hearts to the
Lord. I mean, just reading that, I
have a flashback. We were in a home recently and the father
pulled out his guitar and passed around the song sheets and we
sang. It was so beautiful. And it says
there, that the church was walking in the fear of the Lord and in
the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and they were multiplied. In
Acts 9.31, it says, and they rejoiced over its encouragement. In Acts 15.31, we read, they
were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. In chapter 16, verse 5, we learn
that they met, quote, on the first day of the week When the
disciples came together to break bread, that's in Acts chapter
20, verse 7, it was a relational church where people knew each
other, and they cared for each other, and they prayed for each
other, and they ate with each other, and they encouraged one
another. and you'll see all these little snapshots throughout Acts
that describe it. Also, too, you'll notice something
that's very different compared to the modern church. They met
in homes, and it becomes very obvious that the book of Acts
begins in a home, and it also ends in a home. And they met
from house to house. They were taking their meals
together with gladness and sincerity of heart. We read about Jason's
house in chapter 17 verse 5. We read about Philip's house
in chapter 21 verse 8. We read about Cornelius' house
in Acts chapter 10 verse 22. And you'll find that homes were
used They were used for prayer in chapter 12, verse 12. They
were used for the Lord's Supper in chapter 2, verse 46. They
were used for fellowship in chapter 20, verse 7. They were used for
teaching. In Rome, Paul's home was used
for an all-day evangelistic conference in Acts chapter 28, verse 17. There were impromptu gatherings.
Like in Acts 16.32, there were planned gatherings as they met
on the first day of the week, as in Acts chapter 20. And all
this to just illustrate the value of a home. What's the value of
a home? The value of a home is defined by the power of the gospel
working in it and how it is used in order to be a blessing to
the church of Jesus Christ. And, you know, things can happen
in homes that don't seem to happen in big old commercial buildings.
So we should use our homes that way. You know what? All of you
do that. Every single person that I'm looking at right now
has a home that is used for the gospel. What a blessing. I'm
so grateful for that. These are little lighthouses
in your neighborhoods. It's a beautiful thing. But anyway,
you see that it's a relational church and then And then sixth,
it was an enthusiastic church. Everywhere there are these evidences
of enthusiasm. Paul was preaching past midnight
in Troas, you know, that great story of Eutychus. He's sitting
on the windowsill, and Paul is preaching. He's going on, and
he drops off to sleep, and he falls out of the second story,
and he's dead. So, Paul goes down, He comes
back to life, and Paul continues on till daybreak. They were hungry. You know, in times of revival,
things like this happen. In times of revival that last
forever, but just recognize there are times when God pours out
His Spirit where people can't get enough. I was just reading
yesterday about a revival that took place in England in the
18th century, and it was just telling about two days in the
life of John Wesley. He preached till midnight. He
got up at 5 o'clock in the morning, preached to 7,000 people at 5
a.m. because these people were so
hungry. They wanted to hear the Word of God before they went
to work. And then he kept on preaching to small groups around.
That's very common in times of revival, where instruction is
hungered for and it's needed. People need it. But it was an
enthusiastic church, and then it was a missionary
church. And it was a church that gave its resources for the spread
of the gospel. They sent their people and their
money to regions beyond their own. They did what Solomon speaks
of in Ecclesiastes. They cast their bread upon the
waters, and their bread multiplied throughout the whole world. They
were ascending church, and this is the constant drumbeat of the
book of Acts. In chapters 1-7, the gospel is
spreading in Jerusalem. In chapters 8-11, the gospel
is spreading to Judea and Samaria. And then in chapters 12-28, the
gospel spreads to the ends of the earth. And it hasn't stopped
spreading, even until this day. So they were a missionary sending
kind of a church. And every church should constantly
be thinking and praying about how they might send more out
into this world. They were also a bold church,
number eight. The early church was not characterized
by timidity. They had the words of life. When
you know what will save a dying person, you will provide what's
necessary for their salvation. You don't keep your mouth shut.
If you have a little child, and you're out in the front yard,
and that child starts to run toward the street, You know,
you don't keep your mouth shut. You go after that child. And
that's what reasonable people do. They take extreme measures
for extreme problems. And the most extreme problem
is lostness. and unbelief. So you see this
boldness in the early church. And also, it seems like they
grew in boldness as time went on in the book of Acts. In chapter
13, verse 46, we read, Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold, and said,
It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first.
But since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. So the crowds often
marveled at their boldness. They recognized that their boldness
was connected to something. Can you think of what it might
be connected to? They connected the boldness of the apostles
to Jesus. In chapter 4 verse 13, here's
the proof of it. Now when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, they perceived that they were uneducated and
untrained men. They marveled and they realized
they had been with Jesus. Their boldness was a reflection
of their bold Savior, Jesus. They were becoming more like
Jesus. And in becoming more like Jesus, they were becoming more
bold. Now, this is something you should
see in your life. You should see yourself becoming more bold.
You know, when you're converted, your boldness often is at a low
level. You might go through periods
where your boldness flags, but recognize this. You should be
bold. You should be filled with the
Spirit of God and be bold to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was also a gospel preaching church, number nine. 20% of the words in the book of Acts
are sermons of gospel proclamation. Let me just say that again. You
think about the 28 chapters, 20% of the words in those 28
chapters are sermons of gospel proclamation. In Acts chapter 19, verse 8,
we read that they were, quote, reasoning and persuading concerning
the things of the kingdom of God. And so, the gospel was preached
and people were renouncing their idols. In chapter 19, verses
18 through 20, the preaching of the gospel brought about fear. And it says there that the fear
fell on all, and many believed and came confessing their deeds,
brought magic books and burned them." In Acts chapter 18, verse
26, it's recorded that, quote, Paul has persuaded and turned
away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made
with hands. And to the Gentiles, Paul was
preaching peace through Jesus Christ, that He is Lord of all. That's in Acts chapter 10, verse
36. But the power of the gospel was manifested in this particular
situation where people's eyes are opened and they turn from
darkness to light, literally from the power of Satan to God. that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith."
That's Acts 26, 17 and 18. In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas
told the crowd exactly this. They said, we preach to you to
turn from these useless things And it was a gospel of opening
eyes that were blind, turning away from darkness, of turning
away from your idols, a gospel of receiving the repentance of
sins and being sanctified. You know, when the Philippian
jailer asked, what must I do to be saved? He ended up experiencing
a real transformation. His whole household came to faith.
And they believed, and they were baptized. And they were a gospel-preaching
church. This is always the central matter
for all true reformation, where the true gospel is preached,
where the power of the regenerative power of the gospel is preached.
You know, one of the problems that we have in our times is
that a wrong doctrine of regeneration has been preached. And that it's
actually a regeneration that doesn't really regenerate. And
we should preach a doctrine of regeneration. It was also a well-taught
church, or a vigorously taught church, number 10. And there
are many examples of this. The Bereans were very faithful
in their devotion to Scripture and We read that they were, quote,
more noble than those in Thessalonica, and that they received the word
with all readiness. It was Paul's experience to engage
in teaching wherever he went. One example is found in Acts
20, verses 18 through 21, and actually all the way to the end
of the chapter. And the Apostle Paul is teaching the Ephesian
elders there on the beach in Miletus. Number 11, it was an
elder led church. It's clear that the churches
and acts were led by elders. Paul speaks to the elders of
the church in Ephesus, be on your guard for yourselves and
for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with
his own blood. The seriousness of that statement
is remarkable. purchased with his own blood.
He's saying, pay attention to yourselves, and shepherd, because
Jesus died for these people. He shed his blood for them. The eldership model is characterized
by shared leadership, it's diverse leadership, and you see this
throughout the book of Acts. And then, finally, it was a spirit-filled
church. The key verse in Acts, as Acts
1-8, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you, and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. And here we find the tremendous
importance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are not ever
at our best when we are on our own. We are only at our best
when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. And it is the power of
the Holy Spirit that makes all the difference in the world,
in the church. And God saves sinners. He pours out
His Spirit upon them so that they would have a life that's
not their own, that they would be transformed by beholding the
face of Jesus Christ, and He would change them, and He would
give them a sense of His presence in all the different places,
with all the different experiences that they find themselves in.
And they are a people of the Spirit, the people of the way,
who look to Jesus. And that's the big lesson of
the book of Acts. You shall receive power, and you shall be my witnesses. And when we think about what
it means to be a New Testament church, this really speaks of
the heart of the matter for us. What is a church? What is a church
supposed to do? This is what a church is supposed
to be, and this is what a church is supposed to do. I just want
to return to something that we covered earlier. What can a church
do with 120 people who spend 30 years caring for nothing except the
spread of the gospel? What can God do with the people
who preach a true gospel of transformation and repentance? What can God
do with the people who are continually devoting themselves to the apostles'
teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer? What happens is this, everyone
kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking
place through the apostles. And all those who had believed
were together and had all things in common and they began selling
their property and possessions and were sharing them with all
as anyone might have need. Day by day Continuing with one
mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they
were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of
heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And
the Lord was adding to their number day by day, those who
were being saved. What a wonderful church. What
a marvelous place to live your life. Most of you probably have
30 years left in your life. What do you think might happen
with a church like that? May it be so with us as it was
with them. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for telling
us the stories of the past that help us to understand. the works
that you have in store for us in the future. Thank you for
rescuing your people and making a church. Thank you for spreading
it throughout the whole world. You spread it here to the United
States of America, and you have spread it into our dark hearts,
and you saved us. Lord, we praise you. And now,
help us to spread this gospel of the kingdom as they did. Amen.
The Book of Acts
Series New Testament Survey
| Sermon ID | 6301691640 |
| Duration | 52:52 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Language | English |
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