The War on Sin

Why I Must Fight My Sin:

1. Because my sin Dishonors God. (Col 3:5)



Review: Psalm 16



2. Because my sin Brings serious consequences. (Col 3:6)



Review: Romans 6:1-2



3. Because my sin Belongs in the past. (Col 3:7-10)



4. Because my sin Ruins relationships. (Col 3:8-11)

Review: 1 Cor 10:13

Guest Speaker - Taylor Brown

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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The War on Sin - Guest Speaker Taylor Brown

Jeff Miller/Taylor Brown

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• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:02

  I always appreciate when Jeff and the elders invite me to speak.

  00:02-00:04

  It's a great pleasure to be with you this morning.

  00:05-00:06

  I just wanted to start out.

  00:06-00:11

  I want you all to travel back in time with me to September 25, 2008.

  00:12-00:15

  My family is celebrating my 18th birthday in the backyard.

  00:16-00:17

  And so we had cornhole.

  00:18-00:19

  We had ladder golf in the back.

  00:19-00:20

  And we're playing and stuff.

  00:20-00:24

  And all of a sudden, I notice there's a hornet's nest in the ground.

  00:25-00:27

  Has anyone ever seen one of those before, a hornet's nest in the ground?

  00:27-00:28

  I think we have a picture of that.

  00:29-00:31

  So I see this hornet's nest, right?

  00:31-00:31

  And I'm like, you know what?

  00:32-00:35

  This is my opportunity to prove to everyone I'm a man today.

  00:35-00:38

  18 years old, I'm going to take care of this nest.

  00:38-00:39

  So I go back to the garage.

  00:40-00:41

  I get a can of gasoline.

  00:41-00:42

  I get some matches.

  00:42-00:43

  I go over to the hole.

  00:44-00:47

  And I pour the gasoline into the hole.

  00:47-00:50

  I throw a match in, light the whole nest on fire.

  00:50-00:52

  So I'm standing there, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.

  00:52-00:53

  I'm like, yeah, I did that.

  00:54-00:56

  And then the fire starts going out.

  00:56-00:57

  I start patting the flames out, right?

  00:58-00:59

  And it seems like it's out.

  00:59-01:01

  Then I see some other bees clinging to life.

  01:02-01:04

  I'm like, OK, well, I'm just going to pour some more gas in there.

  01:05-01:06

  So what do you think happened when I did that?

  01:07-01:11

  The stream of gas lit on fire, and then the spout was on fire.

  01:12-01:16

  And so what would the smart thing-- what should I have done in that situation?

  01:16-01:18

  I should have thrown it and run, right?

  01:18-01:19

  I wasn't that smart.

  01:19-01:20

  I started blowing on it.

  01:20-01:25

  I was like, [BLOWING] And somehow, by the grace of God, it actually went out.

  01:27-01:31

  how foolish would I have been if after that happened, I thought to myself, huh, that was weird.

  01:32-01:32

  That's not going to happen again.

  01:33-01:34

  I just poured the gas back in.

  01:34-01:35

  What would have happened?

  01:36-01:37

  It would have caught fire again.

  01:37-01:38

  I probably would have gotten really hurt, right?

  01:39-01:40

  Well, that sounds really ridiculous.

  01:41-01:44

  How often do all of us do that when we sin?

  01:44-01:47

  We get hurt and burned by a certain sin in our lives.

  01:47-01:56

  Instead of learning a valuable lesson, we keep committing that same sin over and over, thinking that we won't get hurt again.

  01:57-02:04

  We choose that sin in our lives that brought severe consequences into our lives and expect different results.

  02:05-02:06

  We expect different results.

  02:07-02:14

  I promise you it may take a few days, weeks, or months, but that sin will come back to haunt you and to hurt you in the future.

  02:14-02:16

  Sin always destroys.

  02:16-02:17

  It always brings consequences.

  02:17-02:20

  And God doesn't want us messing around with it whatsoever.

  02:22-04:30

  This morning, we're going to be studying the word the Apostle Paul in Colossians 3, 5 through 11, in which he commands us as followers of Christ to fight against our personal sin at all costs. Paul wants us to understand that Jesus Christ is so much better than the momentary pleasures of sin. So let's go before the Lord and ask him for his help this morning. God, we thank you so much for this awesome opportunity to come in your presence this morning to hear your word preached, to worship you in song. We thank you so much for this church, we thank you so much for the leadership here, Lord. Lord, help us all to be impacted by your word today. You promise that your word will not return to you empty, but it will go out and accomplish the purpose for which you sent it. You promise that you will watch over your word to perform it. I pray that today will be the day where some people release their grip on this certain sin in their lives and they would follow after you. In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, so before we get started in Colossians 3, 5 through 11, I want to backtrack for a few minutes and set up the context. So all throughout the first two chapters of Colossians, Paul wants to remind the Colossian church of how Jesus has truly changed them. He wants to remind them of who Jesus truly is and what he has done in their lives. He present and future sins upon himself and paid the penalty on the cross. He's completely paid the penalty and Satan no longer has any power over them. He goes on to say they've been given a new identity and a new life through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. He wants them to understand that the Holy Spirit has radically transformed them from the inside out. At one point they were weak, powerless and without hope. They were not able to fight against their sin, but now they were made new in Jesus Christ and they had the desire and ability to fight against their sin, put it to death, and pursue after holiness.

  04:31-06:35

  So Paul wants to remind the Colossian believers of why they must fight against their sin with all that they have. That's the context for Colossians 3, 5, through 11, and Paul says, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these too you once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, because Christ is all and in all. So Paul shows us why we must fight our sin and the first reason is because my sin dishonors God. First and foremost my sin dishonors God. Paul starts out with a really serious command here. He says, "Put to death what is earthly in you." That's some really serious language, right? Paul's not like, "Hey guys, I don't want to be a bother, but if you have some time, could you please stop trying to give in to your sexual temptations, your evil desires? I don't want to bother you, just if you have time." Is that what he says here? No, he says, "Put it to death, kill it, be merciless to it." It's very, very And the fancy theological word for putting your sin to death is called mortification. And Puritan pastor John Owen once wrote this really important line about killing our sin or mortifying it. He says, "Do you mortify, do you make it your daily work? Be always at it while you live. Cease not a day from this work." Catch this part. "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Be killing sin or it will be killing you.

  06:35-06:41

  And that is the duty and responsibility of every Christian believer, fighting their sin and killing it.

  06:42-06:46

  For all of us, if we're honest, we struggle with putting our sin to death, don't we?

  06:47-06:49

  We struggle with fighting against it.

  06:49-06:53

  We trick ourselves into thinking that we can control our sin, we can manage it.

  06:53-06:56

  We think we're stronger than we really are.

  06:56-07:00

  We think we can mess around with sin without getting hurt or addicted.

  07:01-07:08

  And maybe for you, the men in this room, you think you can look at pornography every once in a while but not get sucked in and addicted.

  07:09-07:11

  So every couple of weeks you can look at it, it's not really a big deal.

  07:13-07:18

  Or you entertain certain sexual thoughts, but you think it's not really a big deal because you don't act upon those thoughts.

  07:19-07:28

  Maybe you tell lies every once in a while to your boss or to your family, but it's not really a huge deal because you just lie whenever you have to or you wanna avoid a confrontation.

  07:29-07:34

  Maybe for you, you're never really satisfied, and you constantly complain about your life and how bad you have it.

  07:34-07:35

  You think, you know what?

  07:36-07:37

  I deserve to vent my frustration.

  07:37-07:40

  I deserve to tell people how hard my life is.

  07:42-07:44

  Listen, sin is like a wild animal.

  07:44-07:48

  If you mess around with it and play with it, eventually it will turn around and bite you.

  07:49-07:50

  It will hurt you.

  07:51-07:54

  That pornography you're looking at, it will suck you in and get you addicted.

  07:54-07:58

  Those sexual thoughts you allow yourself to have, eventually you'll act on those fantasies.

  07:59-08:07

  Those little white lies you tell people will keep snowballing and snowballing until one day you realize you lie to everyone, even when you don't even have to.

  08:08-08:16

  And that complaining attitude will snowball and get out of control and you'll be a bitter and angry person who is never ever satisfied.

  08:18-08:23

  You cannot control your sin. You can't manage it. You're not strong enough to handle it on your own.

  08:24-08:35

  As I just quoted, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." You know, maybe for some of you, killing your sin looks like getting a filtering software on your computer.

  08:35-08:42

  You can't handle that temptation, so you need to make sure that you have parameters around your life to make sure you won't fall into temptation.

  08:43-08:52

  Or maybe your sexual addiction is so serious that you know how to get around these filters, so you need to get rid of your laptop or your smartphone for a while, maybe downgrade to a flip phone.

  08:52-08:54

  You're like, "Taylor, I can't do that.

  08:54-09:02

  I need my smartphone." What's more important to you, a convenience of a smartphone or a personal and thriving relationship with Jesus Christ?

  09:03-09:10

  You're struggling with sexual immorality, find someone in your life who can hold you accountable in your area of sexual thoughts.

  09:11-09:14

  You need someone, you need people's help, you can't do it on your own.

  09:16-09:19

  Maybe you just need to stop hanging out with certain people in your life.

  09:19-09:31

  Every single time you hang out with them, you eventually make fun of other people, you you complain, you bad mouth other people, maybe you need to cut those people out of your life for a certain season, because you can't handle being around them.

  09:32-09:36

  This afternoon you may need to tell your spouse that you've been lying to them for a long time.

  09:37-09:39

  Tell a friend that you've been lying to them for a long time.

  09:41-09:44

  You may be thinking, Taylor, there's no way I could possibly ever do that.

  09:44-09:46

  I can't handle the embarrassment and shame that I would feel.

  09:46-09:48

  Can't I just stop lying to them from now on?

  09:50-10:53

  You have to make it right today. Fighting sin and killing it, it's really uncomfortable, it's really challenging, it's hard, but you can't take shortcuts, you can't make excuses. The Apostle Paul tells us to do this because at its core, sin is idolatry. Sin is idolatry. Please catch this, when we sin, we are committing idolatry. What is idolatry? Idolatry is giving something or someone else the attention, honor, and glory that God alone deserves. When you sin, you are giving that attention and glory to sinful things instead of God. You're saying to God, "I don't need you to be happy. This will satisfy me more than you ever could." You may not say that out loud, but that's what you're thinking in your heart when you sin. You're thinking, "I don't need God to be happy. This will make me happy." You believe in that moment that sin is more satisfying than God.

  10:54-10:58

  But don't ever believe that lie. Sin will not give you what you were looking for.

  10:59-11:03

  Sin never gives anything to you. It only takes away from you.

  11:04-11:18

  There is no true joy or lasting happiness in a sinful lifestyle. That David has this to say in Psalm 16 as he's singing to the Lord, "You make known to me the path of life.

  11:19-12:08

  In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that all that you need is in Jesus Christ, is in a relationship with your God? Do you really believe that? Because you cannot fight against your sin and put it to death unless you believe that Jesus Christ is more satisfying than that sin that you with. It's impossible. You have to truly believe that Jesus Christ is better than your sin. Please don't replace the king of the universe with the momentary pleasure of sin, which will never make you happy. So why must I fight my sin? First, because my sin dishonors God. Secondly, because my sin brings serious consequences. My sin brings serious consequences.

  12:11-12:48

  Paul goes on to tell us that sin brings pain and misery into our lives and on account of this sin he says that the wrath of God is coming. The wrath of God is coming. He's reminding us that one day Jesus Christ will return and with his return there will be a judgment day. This isn't a popular teaching to talk about on Sunday mornings but it's so important for us to talk about. Saying that there will be a judgment day and those who didn't turn to Jesus Christ for salvation and forgiveness from their sins will be sentenced to hell eternally to suffer God's just anger and wrath for their sinful lifestyles.

  12:50-13:10

  But for those of us who have trusted in Christ, all the wrath and punishment that we deserve for our sin was poured out upon Jesus on the cross, and we don't have to face judgment anymore. Some of us may be thinking right now, Well, if my sin is covered and paid for, then I can just do whatever I want, right?

  13:11-13:15

  I mean, I won't get in trouble. I can just ask God for forgiveness afterward. It's not really a big deal.

  13:16-13:17

  Raise your hand if you ever thought that before.

  13:18-13:23

  We've all thought that, right? Every single one of us. I mean, whatever. I can do this. I'll just ask God for forgiveness afterwards.

  13:24-13:30

  But that's not an attitude that we as Christians should ever, ever have. That's a very God-dishonoring attitude.

  13:31-13:36

  Paul says in Romans 6, 1 through 2, "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

  13:36-14:44

  By no means. How can we who have died to sin still live in it? We should never view God's grace as a free pass to do whatever we want without consequences. That's not an attitude we should have at all. Listen, God's grace not only forgives us of our sin, but also delivers us from living in our sin. God's grace not only forgives us of our sins, but delivers us from living in sin. Why would we want to keep living in those things which brought us shame and dishonored our God? We have to remember it's because of our sins, our mistakes, our mess-ups that Jesus had to go to the cross. The next time you're tempted to believe that that sin you're involved with isn't a big deal, just think to yourself, "This sin is so serious, it's such a big deal that my Savior had to suffer and die for it on the cross. He had to bleed out and have the wrath of his Father poured out upon him. That's how serious it is, no matter how small it looks to you or other people around you. God wants us to be truly heartbroken over our sin, not treat it casually or flippantly.

  14:46-14:50

  So please don't mess around with those things that led Jesus to the cross.

  14:52-16:40

  St. Paul tells us that sin brings eternal consequences, but it also brings negative effects in this life as well. You know, Satan tricks us into believing that sin is truly satisfying, but as James MacDonald always says, "If you choose to sin, then you choose to what? You choose to suffer, right? If you choose to disobey God's Word and do what it tells you not to do, you will suffer certain consequences. It's going to happen. It may take days, it may take months, it may take years, but you will be hit with shame over what you did, and you'll lose a closeness with God. If you keep choosing that sin over God every single day, you're not going to have that closeness and that really personal relationship that you want with Him. We'll talk about this later, but sin never just affects you, it affects everyone that you come into contact with. Some of you are living with the consequence of a certain sin in your life right now. Maybe you did something to another person and that relationship has been broken and you idea how to restore their trust. Maybe for years you've been choosing that certain sin over God and you haven't felt close to him in years and you don't know how to restore that. So please this morning learn from your mistakes and let these consequences be a reminder of what happens when you choose sin over the Lord. There's never been a time in my life where I obeyed God and I regretted it, but there are a lot of times where I've disobeyed him and I've always regretted of it. You know, sinning is like opening a door to a thief. It will just come in and steal all that you have away from you, all your joy, all your contentment, and all of your peace. So please remember that sin always brings consequences. Even if you can't see them right away, you can never truly get away with sinning.

  16:42-18:16

  So why must I fight my sin? Because first, it dishonors God, it brings serious consequences. Thirdly, because my sin belongs in the past. My sin belongs in the past. So Paul goes on to say that sin belongs in our past because it defined who we were, but not who we are now in Jesus Christ. He writes, "In these two you once walked when you lived in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouths." Paul is saying every single one of us who are Christians here this morning, we all once lived a life of sin, but as Christians who have been made new, we have to begin to move on from those sins and pursue after the Lord. You know, when I was younger, I used to love playing with action figures and wearing costumes, and I used to have a lot of Batman action figures, Power Rangers, things like that. I would run around the house wearing like, you know, Buzz Lightyear costume, Batman costume, and I'd be up in my room, you know, having these epic battles, right? But there had to be a certain age where I had to put these things away to grow up, right? And if you talk to my sister, she'll tell you she could hear me when I was 16 years old playing with these toys in my room. That's a lie. Don't believe her. She'll also tell you I didn't learn how to ride my bike until I was 12, which is not true. So don't listen to what she says, okay? Don't talk to her about that. You know, but there had to be a time where I put these things away so I could grow up and become a man, right, and go to college and get married and everything like that. Now imagine if my wife Kate came home tomorrow And she finds me in the living room in a Green Power Rangers outfit, playing with my GI Joes, going like, pow, pow, pow, pow.

  18:17-18:18

  But she'd be like, that's normal.

  18:19-18:20

  No, she'd be like, what are you doing?

  18:20-18:22

  I married a grown man, not a kid.

  18:22-18:23

  Put your toys away.

  18:23-18:24

  Right?

  18:25-18:28

  Because those toys and those costumes belong in my past.

  18:28-18:32

  They don't belong in my life now as an adult married man with no kids.

  18:33-18:39

  In a much greater way, our sin doesn't belong in our present because it was taken care of by Jesus Christ on the cross.

  18:40-19:36

  has no place in our new lives right now. We have to begin to move on from those sins that we struggle with. Paul goes on to write, "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self." So before we came to Jesus, we were dead in our sin, as I said before, and we had no hope. But Paul uses the metaphor here of saying that we were able to put off the old self and put on the new self. In Jesus Christ, our old selves were sacrificed, dead, buried, and we were able to put on a new identity in Jesus Christ. He's kind of used the metaphor of old clothing, right? We put off the old self like an old disgusting shirt and we put on the new self. So to illustrate this, I want you to imagine that this jacket is the old self, okay?

  19:38-19:39

  Does this look really good to anybody?

  19:40-19:40

  Does this look good?

  19:42-19:42

  Anybody?

  19:43-19:45

  This is our old selves before Christ, right?

  19:45-19:49

  This is ourselves who are stained with our sin and our selfishness.

  19:50-19:54

  But in Jesus Christ, when we were forgiven, we were able to take the old self off, right?

  19:54-19:55

  We were able to take it off.

  19:56-20:02

  And then Paul goes on to say that we were able to put on the new self.

  20:03-20:03

  Let's see if I can get this on.

  20:05-20:07

  Does this look a little bit better? A little bit better, right?

  20:08-20:14

  So the Bible says we are to put on the new self, which is being renewed after the image of its creator.

  20:15-20:19

  And the catch is, when you put the new self on, you can never take it off again.

  20:19-20:23

  You can't lose your salvation, you can't undeserve God's grace.

  20:24-20:38

  You know what you can do? You can cover it up with the old self. You can decide in moments of weakness that you miss the old self and you miss those certain sins you used to enjoy, and so you cover up the new self with your old self.

  20:39-20:49

  Does this look good? Looks even worse, right? Nothing looks worse than a Christian covering up the person that God made them to be with the old sins that they used to love.

  20:50-20:51

  All of us do that sometimes, right?

  20:52-20:59

  We miss that certain sin we used to enjoy and we go back to it and we cover up the people that God made us to be.

  21:01-21:10

  Paul's calling us in this passage to move on, to realize that we are new, we don't have to give into temptation, we don't have to do what we used to do.

  21:10-21:13

  We can be new people in Jesus Christ.

  21:15-21:19

  To Paul's heads here, be renewed with each passing day and become more like Jesus Christ.

  21:19-21:32

  grow closer to him and choose to not give in to that sin any longer. Sin belongs in your past and has no place in your present. It's part of the old you, but not the new you.

  21:35-22:05

  Okay, so lastly, why must I fight my sin? Because my sin ruins relationships. My sin ruins relationships. So throughout verses 8 through 11, Paul lists sins that ruin our relationships with other people. Anger, wrath, vengeance, malice, slander, lying, obscene talk. Is anyone guilty of those sins besides me? I think we've all done that, right? We've all committed all of these sins. We've all lied to people.

  22:06-22:11

  We've all tried to take revenge on other people who have wronged us. We've all been angry at people for no reason.

  22:13-22:16

  There are people here today who really struggle with anger.

  22:16-22:18

  Anger is a really serious issue for you.

  22:18-22:21

  People say this about you, oh, you don't want to get on their bad side.

  22:21-22:22

  You don't want to see them when they're angry.

  22:23-22:24

  They have really short views.

  22:25-22:31

  Maybe you're having a really difficult time at work, and you're taking out your frustrations on your family.

  22:31-22:33

  You might yell at your wife or your kids.

  22:33-22:35

  You might even throw things in anger.

  22:37-22:59

  But that's not the attitude we're called to have Jesus Christ, Paul says to put away anger and rage. So if that's you this morning, if you're struggling with anger and you suddenly just snap, talk to one of the elders today, talk to Pastor Jeff, or find a Christian counselor who can walk you through those issues because you cannot keep that hidden and bottled up anymore.

  22:59-23:31

  That will lead to devastation for you and your family. So Paul says to put away anger and wrath. A lot of the sins that Paul lists here have to do with how we talk to each other. Lying, obscene talk, slander. We've all heard that phrase, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Is that true? Is there any truth to it? No. Actually, words have the power to cause a greater injury to us than a physical injury. I think all of us can look back in our lives and have those things that people said about us really stick out.

  23:32-23:54

  certain name that was given to you in high school or something a friend said to you in a moment of anger and you still even feel the pain of that to this day. Remember that how you speak to and about others is a huge deal and God cares about every single word that comes out of your mouth. The Bible even says that we're all going to be held accountable for every word that we speak.

  23:56-24:22

  So let me ask you, how is your speech? How is your speech? Are you known as someone who is honest or someone who is dishonest and lies to get their way? Are you known as someone who builds up and encourages? Or are you known as someone who discourages and tears people down every single turn? You know what, we need to stop hiding behind the excuse of, "Oh, I'm just joking." Who said that this week? My hands raised. I said it to my wife the other day. I'm just joking. Does that really help at all?

  24:23-25:45

  Does that really help heal somebody from the wounds that you caused to them with your words, it doesn't. It doesn't help at all. We need to stop hiding behind that excuse. Maybe at your church today you have to find someone in your life and apologize for something you said to them recently. Maybe that person is here in this room today. Don't let this day pass you by without apologizing and asking for forgiveness for the careless words you've spoken in the past. St. Paul ends this section by saying, "Here there is no Greek and Jew circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all." What's Paul saying here? It's kind of a weird way to end the passage, right? What's he even talking about here? Paul is saying that sin leads us to pride, which causes us to think we are better than other people. He says there is no room at all in the body of Christ for pride. No one is better than anyone else. Paul says whether you're a Gentile, a Jewish person, a slave, whether you follow all the Old Testament rules, we're all equal in the eyes of God. And the same goes to this congregation. No one is better or more important than anyone else here in this room today. No matter what family you come from, no matter how much money you have in your bank account, whether you have a position of authority in this church or not, we're all equal in the eyes of God and equally loved by Him.

  25:46-26:35

  All of us struggle with pride in one of its two forms. One of its two forms. We either struggle with self-exaltation or self-pity. We either think we're better than everybody else or less valuable than everyone else. And both those are prideful because we're focusing all of our attention and energy upon ourselves and our status. If you exalt yourself above other people, you'll think you're better than them and you won't think your sin is a big deal because you think you have it all together. So if that's you, if you struggle with that form of pride, come before the Lord this morning and say, "Lord, I need you to humble me. Help me to realize how much I need you every single day." I think a lot of us here, we fall on the opposite end of the spectrum, right? We think we're worthless and we think we have nothing to offer anyone. And that's an equally sinful thought.

  26:37-27:25

  Because God loves you, God created you with dignity, value, and worth, and you have a purpose, and it's wrong to think otherwise, because you're telling God, "You're a bad creator, you made a mistake with me," and God never makes mistakes, ever. Pride has no room in the body of Christ. It will infect us and spread if we don't destroy it. So listen to me, your sin never just affects you, it affects everyone that you know. Sin is never just your problem, it's and private because it affects how you treat other people. Sin affects this church, you know that? The sin in your life affects this church. Sin always destroys and it always ruins relationships if we let it.

  27:27-27:42

  I know in a room this size there are many people who feel like they are helpless to fight against a certain sin in their life. You're thinking to yourself, "Taylor, this all sounds really great, but you have no idea what I'm struggling with. I've been facing this sin and this temptation for years and I I have no idea how to get away from it.

  27:42-27:43

  It's impossible.

  27:44-27:48

  If that's you this morning, please know your situation isn't hopeless.

  27:50-27:52

  Listen to this promise from God in 1 Corinthians 10.13.

  27:53-27:57

  "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

  27:57-28:01

  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.

  28:01-28:12

  But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it." God promises that he will always provide a way of escape.

  28:12-28:13

  You never have to give in.

  28:14-28:20

  You have been made new in Jesus Christ, and you've been given the desire and ability to fight against your sin.

  28:20-28:23

  Call out to him this morning for his strength and his help.

  28:23-28:27

  Turn to your spouse, a family member, or a friend for their accountability.

  28:29-28:30

  You can't fight your sin on your own.

  28:31-28:32

  It's not possible.

  28:32-28:34

  Don't be embarrassed to ask for help.

  28:34-28:34

  You need it.

  28:36-28:42

  Today can be the day that stronghold in your life is torn down. Today can be the day where your shackles to that sin are broken.

  28:42-29:29

  Today can be a brand new start for you. The Bible says that God's mercies are new every single day. There may be some people in this room who don't know Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. If that's you, don't wait another day to repent or turn away from your sins and ask God to forgive you. Jesus says, "I will never send anyone away if they come to me." So if that's you, stop running away from the Lord, the Bible says today is the day of salvation. Turn to him for his grace and forgiveness. And for the rest of us who are Christians, realize that your sin dishonors God, it brings consequences into your life, it belongs in your past, not your present, and that will ruin relationships in your life if you let it.

  29:31-29:55

  Never look back in longing at the old self and go back to that sin which you used to enjoy. Instead, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, and run after him with all that you have. In Jesus alone is all that you're looking for. Don't look back at your old life and your old self. Fight against your sin by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's pray.

  29:58-30:33

  Lord, we come before you this morning and we admit that fighting against our sin is really hard. It's difficult, it's challenging, and we feel so helpless to fight against it on our own. We thank you that you've made us new, you've helped us to put on the new self, to put off the old self. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you give us the ability to fight against our sin and put it to death. I know there are people in this room who've been struggling with a certain sin for months, maybe even years, would I pray you'd help them today to end it.

  30:34-30:37

  They would stop hiding it, stop keeping it private.

  30:38-30:41

  They would confess it to you and confess it to someone else and seek help.

  30:43-30:51

  I pray for people in this room who don't know you, that for the first time, they would admit that they need to be saved and that they can't save themselves.

  30:51-30:52

  They need you.

  30:52-30:54

  They need your grace and your mercy and your forgiveness.

  30:56-30:59

  Lord, let this be a brand new day for all of us.

  31:01-31:02

  In Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Colossians 3:5-11

1. When you sin, what are you telling God with your actions? Why do we at times

   believe that sin is more satisfying than God? Why can sin never compare to a

   relationship with Christ?

2. Even though we are new in Jesus, why do we choose to go back to our old ways

   of living? How can we fight against the temptation to go back to the old self?

3. Does sin only ever affect us? How does it hurt other people? How can we help each other to fight against sin?

Breakout Questions:

1. Confess the recurring sin(s) in your life that you struggle with. Pray for one another and develop an accountability plan to grow in your support among each other.

Power in Personal Evangelism.

Review:

Personal Evangelism 101:

1. Look for those that are Seeking. (Acts 8:26-29)



2. Meet people where they Are. (Acts 8:30-35a)



Review: John 4



3. Make it about Jesus. (Acts 8:35b)



4. Encourage a Decision. (Acts 8:36-40)

(Listen to Baptism 101)

• What is baptism?
  Baptism is a visible, God-chosen, God-commanded, response to my faith. See Acts 2


• Who is baptism for?
  It is for people who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Common Excuses for not getting Baptized:

1. "I was baptized when I was a baby."
2. "I'd offend my parents and and family." See Acts 5:29
3. "I need to wait until I'm on track spiritually."
4. "I don't like being in front of people."
5. "I need to pray about it."


• What is the purpose of baptism?
  It is the profession of faith. See Rom 6:1-5


• When should a person be baptized?
  It is to be done immediately upon belief.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Power and Witness - The Power of Personal Evangelism.

Jeff Miller

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• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:03

  Open up your Bibles with me please to Acts 8.

  00:04-00:05

  Acts 8.

  00:07-00:12

  While you're turning there, just by way of review, we've been walking through the book of Acts.

  00:12-00:39

  Our theme for this year really has been from Acts 1.8 when Jesus promised the disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." And as we've been walking through Acts, that Stephen, a young minister, was violently murdered by the religious council for preaching Christ.

  00:40-00:48

  And after Stephen's death, a great persecution against Christians arose in Jerusalem and the church scatters.

  00:49-00:52

  But as the church scatters, the believers went everywhere preaching the Gospel.

  00:55-01:07

  One of Stephen's peers, by the name of Philip actually went to Samaria and preached Jesus to a receptive audience except for a magician named Simon.

  01:08-01:09

  We talked about him last week.

  01:09-01:14

  He wanted to purchase the power to transfer the Holy Spirit.

  01:17-01:20

  Today, we're going to continue looking at Philip's ministry.

  01:20-01:23

  We're going to be picking up in v. 26.

  01:24-01:35

  The title of the message is just simply this - You know, last week we saw an example of somebody that Philip ministered to that didn't get it.

  01:37-01:43

  And this week we're going to see a different story, as Philip shares the gospel with someone who does get it.

  01:44-01:47

  So, Personal Evangelism 101, are you ready?

  01:47-01:54

  Personal Evangelism 101, how can I be effective in sharing the gospel with someone?

  01:57-01:58

  Write this down first of all.

  01:58-02:01

  Number one, look for those that are seeking.

  02:03-02:04

  Look for those that are seeking.

  02:08-02:19

  Verse 26 says, "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

  02:20-02:25

  This is a desert place.'" There were actually two roads that went from Jerusalem to Gaza.

  02:27-02:29

  The one road was very traveled, very busy.

  02:29-02:33

  This road in particular was the one less traveled.

  02:34-02:38

  That's why Luke points out for us that this is a desert place.

  02:40-02:49

  Interestingly, your Bible doesn't say, at this point, Philip interjected to say, "You want me to go where?" I mean, this wasn't exactly prime evangelism spot.

  02:50-03:02

  And Philip would have seen great ministry opportunity while he was in Jerusalem, and then when he was in Samaria, and things were happening, and all of a sudden, the Lord has this divine appointment for Philip.

  03:03-03:07

  I just want to encourage you church, you know, from time to time, we have these mission opportunities that come up.

  03:08-03:20

  And a lot of times I hear people say things like, "Well, I'd really like to go, but... I feel like God wants me to go." But, if you feel like God wants you to go, then go.

  03:22-03:26

  Maybe God has a divine appointment for you like He does for Philip in this passage.

  03:26-03:27

  Look at verse 27.

  03:28-03:32

  It says, "And he rose and went.

  03:32-03:41

  And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

  03:42-03:51

  He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot.

  03:52-03:54

  And he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

  03:56-04:05

  And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." So Philip encounters this man.

  04:05-04:06

  He's an Ethiopian.

  04:08-04:10

  He's a eunuch. He's actually a court official.

  04:10-04:13

  The Bible says that he was in charge of the treasury.

  04:15-04:18

  And he went to Jerusalem to worship.

  04:19-04:22

  And on the way back, he had a scroll of Isaiah.

  04:23-04:28

  I read this week that it would have been something that would have been very expensive for him to buy and very hard for him to get.

  04:28-04:32

  Being a Gentile, getting a scroll of Isaiah.

  04:32-04:35

  See, we're sort of spoiled when we want God's Word.

  04:35-04:42

  We have copies available in book form, You have a stack of free ones on a resource table that you can take.

  04:43-04:44

  It wasn't like that in this day.

  04:45-04:54

  It was, you could buy parts of Scripture, these scrolls, and he just happened to buy the scroll containing Isaiah.

  04:56-04:59

  And this is what he had his nose buried in when Philip found him.

  04:59-05:01

  It wasn't like he was leafing through People magazine.

  05:03-05:16

  The Bible says, "He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, reading the prophet Isaiah." I want you to see before we go on that this is somebody who was seeking.

  05:18-05:20

  This is somebody who was seeking.

  05:20-05:24

  I heard James MacDonald one time teach on red apple evangelism.

  05:25-05:33

  And he said the best evangelism is red apple evangelism is looking for the people that ripened for the Gospel.

  05:35-05:38

  And it's the circumstances of life that ripen people to the Gospel.

  05:39-05:44

  And the point is this, you look for people that God is preparing through some trial or through some adversity.

  05:46-05:50

  Or like the Ethiopian, people who are searching for life's answers.

  05:52-05:54

  And you'll find that these people are everywhere.

  05:55-05:57

  In your family, people you work with.

  05:57-06:00

  You look around, you find people and looking for answers.

  06:02-06:06

  People that the Lord is allowing some hardship into their lives.

  06:08-06:09

  It's awakening them to spiritual realities.

  06:11-06:14

  That's the first thing we see here is Philip found someone who was seeking.

  06:14-06:16

  This was a divine appointment.

  06:16-06:18

  Numbers 2 goes right with this.

  06:18-06:18

  Jot this down.

  06:19-06:20

  Meet people where they are.

  06:21-06:22

  Meet people where they are.

  06:24-06:29

  I don't know how you are when you read the Bible, but this seems kind of funny and you think about how that must have played out.

  06:30-06:48

  Verse 30 says, "So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'" And if I'm this Ethiopian guy, my first question is, where in the world did you come from?

  06:49-07:14

  Could you imagine sitting in your car in the passenger seat and you're reading something and all of a sudden somebody runs up and he pokes their head in the window of your car and says, "Hey, what are you reading?" "Who are you?" And here's this Ethiopian eunuch on this abandoned road in this chariot on this 500 mile trip back to Jerusalem, and Philip just shows up.

  07:15-07:18

  "What are you reading?" I just thought that was kind of funny.

  07:19-07:22

  But apparently he was so engrossed in the text that he didn't care.

  07:24-07:25

  "What was he reading?" Look at verse 31.

  07:28-07:50

  "Do you understand what you're reading?" Verse 31, "And he, the Ethiopian, said, 'How can I unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him." Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this, "Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.

  07:51-07:54

  In his humiliation, justice was denied him.

  07:55-08:02

  I can't even describe his generation, for his life has taken away from the earth.

  08:04-08:07

  The Ethiopian was reading specifically from Isaiah 53.

  08:10-08:15

  Verse 34, "And the eunuch said to Philip, 'About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this?

  08:15-08:27

  About himself or about someone else?' Then Philip opened his mouth, And beginning with this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

  08:30-08:37

  I want you to notice here, Evangelism 101, you look for those who are seeking, but secondly, you need to meet people where they are.

  08:40-08:42

  That's exactly what Philip did with this Ethiopian.

  08:43-08:47

  He's reading Isaiah 53, a very familiar passage to us.

  08:48-08:51

  He says, "Who is the prophet talking about here?

  08:51-08:52

  for somebody else.

  08:53-09:02

  Notice Philip didn't go off on a rabbit trail to say, "Well, that's nice that you're reading Isaiah, but let's talk about Leviticus." Well, that was a wonky transition.

  09:03-09:06

  The Bible says that Philip began with this Scripture.

  09:09-09:18

  That's so important for us as we're looking for opportunities to share Christ with people, because people are searching for different reasons.

  09:20-09:21

  Everybody has the same need.

  09:22-09:26

  But the thing that awakens the hunger in people is often different.

  09:28-09:29

  For some it's a tragedy.

  09:30-09:31

  For some it's death.

  09:32-09:35

  For some it's a self-examination.

  09:35-09:36

  What am I living for?

  09:38-09:43

  For some, it's just not experiencing real fulfillment in life.

  09:44-09:46

  And that was my testimony.

  09:46-09:51

  I went through a season in my life I just had zero fulfillment.

  09:51-09:57

  And I was trying to find meaning and reason and satisfaction and all sorts of things - sinful and otherwise.

  09:57-10:06

  And nothing was doing it until somebody told me the good news of Jesus Christ.

  10:07-10:09

  Everybody has the need.

  10:11-10:14

  God just allows certain things to come into their lives to awaken that need.

  10:16-10:25

  What you need to do in your personal evangelism, like Philip meeting people where they're at, you need to show people how Jesus meets every need.

  10:27-10:33

  For example, if somebody's experiencing a death, it's your opportunity to say, yeah, it is a tragedy.

  10:35-10:37

  It's a tragedy, unfortunately, that we all have to face.

  10:38-10:39

  We have good news.

  10:40-10:42

  Because the Bible says that Jesus Christ conquered death.

  10:45-10:46

  You're dealing with somebody with depression.

  10:48-10:58

  God created you to have a relationship with Him, and even though life is hard, God made a way that we can know Him and experience real fulfillment in life.

  11:00-11:02

  You need to learn to meet people where they're at.

  11:02-11:04

  Jesus was the Master of this, by the way.

  11:05-11:06

  Think of John 4.

  11:06-11:07

  Remember the woman at the well?

  11:10-11:13

  Jesus promised her living water that spring up from within.

  11:15-11:26

  Jesus was showing her that all of the things that she was looking for fulfillment in her life weren't working, and He was the one that could bring real fulfillment to her life.

  11:29-11:31

  This Ethiopian obviously wanted to know God.

  11:32-11:35

  He traveled 500 miles to Jerusalem.

  11:37-11:39

  What made him buy a copy of Isaiah?

  11:41-11:44

  What made him seek the Lord in Isaiah?

  11:44-11:45

  I don't know.

  11:47-11:49

  But Philip saw that he was seeking.

  11:50-11:51

  And he saw where he was seeking.

  11:52-11:55

  And Philip, the Bible says, he began with that Scripture.

  11:57-11:58

  Philip met Him where he was.

  11:59-12:09

  And when you identify people that are seeking, when you discern where people are, number three, this is very important about evangelism, and make it about Jesus.

  12:11-12:12

  Make it about Jesus.

  12:15-12:24

  It says, "Beginning with this Scripture, He told him the good news about Jesus." That's what makes it so exciting to share Jesus.

  12:25-12:26

  This is good news.

  12:28-12:30

  But underline in your Bible that this is good news.

  12:30-12:41

  Underline "about Jesus." Underline that. "About Jesus." It wasn't some generic, There's a higher power that wants to bless you.

  12:43-12:44

  This is about Jesus.

  12:46-13:04

  A week or so ago, one of the elders at our church - I won't mention who - but one of the elders at our church loaned me a book called "Pulpit Crimes." I've got to tell you, it made me a little nervous when one of the elders comes to you and says, "Here, you need to read this book called 'Pulpit Crimes'." About all the wrong things that preachers do when preaching.

  13:06-13:07

  that he wasn't trying to give me a hint.

  13:09-13:23

  But the gist of the book, in order to remove the offense of the cross, which is motivated by various things, pastors will tweak the message to make listeners happy.

  13:25-13:30

  One of the elders at a church I served in previously had told me that there was a study done by this man.

  13:30-13:32

  He was going around the churches.

  13:32-13:34

  This was a really weird study.

  13:34-13:38

  I don't know what motivated this, but I remember what the study was.

  13:38-13:47

  He was going around to different churches and he was counting how many times they mentioned the name of Jesus Christ in their worship service.

  13:48-13:49

  Isn't that a weird thing to study?

  13:50-13:51

  But that's what this guy did.

  13:51-14:01

  He just went around, and he was shocked at how seldom Jesus was actually mentioned in the church.

  14:02-14:09

  The man actually said that many of the churches didn't mention the name of Jesus one time in their service.

  14:10-14:13

  Like, what in the world is going on in these churches?

  14:14-14:19

  What are people talking about if they're gathering to celebrate?

  14:22-14:23

  What are they doing?

  14:24-14:27

  So many churches didn't mention the name of Jesus even one time.

  14:28-14:30

  Why does that happen?

  14:32-14:34

  Well, the reason that happens is It removes the offense.

  14:36-14:39

  You see, people are content to keep God generic.

  14:40-14:50

  People are content to say things, "God bless America." "God bless you." People are content to say things like that as long as we think of God as being generic.

  14:51-14:54

  But as soon as you mention Jesus, now you have a problem because Jesus is a threat.

  14:56-15:05

  Because you see, the very foundation of the Gospel of Jesus, Jesus said there's a throne on your heart you're seated on that throne.

  15:05-15:06

  You need to get off.

  15:06-15:09

  You need to allow me, my rightful place on that throne.

  15:10-15:11

  Jesus said you need to deny yourself.

  15:12-15:16

  You need to allow me to be the absolute supremacy in your life in all areas.

  15:17-15:17

  That's a threat.

  15:20-15:25

  So it's much easier to just sort of make God ambiguous.

  15:26-15:28

  Sort of a poetic concept.

  15:31-15:35

  And when you're sharing the gospel with someone, You can dive into all kinds of theology.

  15:35-15:45

  You can talk about creation, you can talk about sin, you can talk about the church, you can talk about heaven and hell, you can talk about how amazing the Bible is, and all of this is good stuff.

  15:47-15:52

  But if salvation is only found in the name of Jesus Christ, then you better talk about Jesus Christ.

  15:54-15:56

  That's the point in your personal evangelism.

  15:56-16:02

  Get people talking about examining You is Jesus Christ.

  16:04-16:14

  And finally for today, and this is what I really wanted to emphasize, Evangelism 101 #4, you need to encourage a decision.

  16:17-16:18

  You need to encourage a decision.

  16:20-16:21

  Look at verse 36.

  16:22-16:27

  It says, "And as they were going along the road, they came to some water.

  16:28-16:30

  And Eunuch said, "See, here is water.

  16:32-16:45

  What prevents me from being baptized?" So obviously, in Philip's sermon to the Ethiopian, in his Bible study with the Ethiopian, he must have mentioned baptism at some point.

  16:46-16:50

  Now notice, your Bible probably jumps from verse 36 to verse 38.

  16:50-16:51

  Does your Bible do that?

  16:51-16:53

  Does your Bible sort of skip verse 37?

  16:55-16:58

  It's actually a footnote in most Bibles.

  16:59-17:00

  Like, why isn't it with the rest of the verses?

  17:01-17:06

  Well, verse 37 isn't in some of the oldest manuscripts.

  17:09-17:13

  But obviously, some confession of faith had to have occurred at this point.

  17:15-17:17

  Philip again must have mentioned baptism.

  17:19-17:23

  Because as soon as they see some water, the Ethiopian says, "Well, here's water.

  17:23-17:25

  and it prevents me from being baptized.

  17:25-17:37

  Verse 38 says, "And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." I love how unashamed that is.

  17:39-17:40

  Let's just do it right now.

  17:40-17:43

  Let's just stop and do this thing right now.

  17:43-17:53

  Verse 39, "And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing.

  17:55-17:58

  But Philip found himself at Azazelus.

  17:58-18:05

  And as he passed through, he preached the Gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

  18:07-18:11

  So Philip vanished just as abruptly as he arrived.

  18:12-18:14

  And it says that he ended up in Caesarea.

  18:14-18:22

  When you go to Acts 21.8-9, you see that apparently Philip settled there and began raising a family.

  18:22-18:25

  Because we encounter him again much later in Acts.

  18:28-18:34

  What you have here in Acts 8 is Philip explains Christ.

  18:35-18:37

  The Ethiopian accepted Christ.

  18:38-18:40

  And Philip looked for a response.

  18:42-18:44

  Just as God does.

  18:45-18:53

  And when you share the Gospel with someone, You can't stop short of letting them know that a response is required.

  18:54-18:57

  Sometimes I think we're content to just make the Gospel on FYI.

  18:58-19:00

  You know, Jesus died on the cross for your sins.

  19:00-19:02

  Jesus rose from the dead to give you eternal life.

  19:02-19:04

  Just thought you might want to know. Have a great day.

  19:06-19:08

  You need to look for a response.

  19:09-19:10

  Yes, salvation is a gift.

  19:11-19:16

  But even with a gift, you have to take action to receive it, right?

  19:18-19:20

  It doesn't just get dumped on your head whether you want it or not.

  19:21-19:22

  You have to do something.

  19:23-19:27

  You don't earn it, you don't work for it, but it is a gift, and gifts must be received.

  19:28-19:29

  Encourage a response.

  19:31-19:41

  And one of the responses is you need to encourage for someone who is born again, is baptism.

  19:43-19:44

  I'm going to talk about baptism.

  19:45-19:46

  Some of you have never made this step.

  19:48-19:52

  If you study your Bible, this is actually step one when you come to Christ.

  19:52-19:56

  Actually, an unbaptized Christian is foreign to the New Testament.

  19:56-19:57

  You just don't see that.

  19:58-20:04

  What you do see when you go through the book of Acts, Christ is preached, Christ is received, people are baptized.

  20:04-20:11

  There's actually a blog that we put back up on the website that just follows that pattern throughout the book of Acts.

  20:11-20:13

  That's what baptism's about.

  20:14-20:16

  Before we close today, I want to talk about baptism.

  20:19-20:20

  I'm just going to answer four questions.

  20:21-20:21

  What is baptism?

  20:22-20:23

  Who is baptism for?

  20:23-20:25

  What is the purpose of baptism?

  20:25-20:29

  And the last question, when should a person be baptized?

  20:30-20:32

  When should a person be baptized?

  20:34-20:35

  Let's answer these four questions.

  20:36-20:37

  Letter A, what is baptism?

  20:39-20:40

  What is baptism?

  20:40-20:50

  baptism is the visible, God-chosen, God-commanded response to my faith.

  20:52-20:54

  It's visible - it means you can see it.

  20:55-20:58

  It's God-chosen, meaning it's something that God came up with.

  20:58-21:04

  It wasn't that some church invented baptism or some ancient theologian decided it was a good idea.

  21:05-21:06

  It was something that God chose.

  21:07-21:09

  And it's God-commanded.

  21:10-21:19

  Acts 17 says, "God now commands all men everywhere to repent." It's commanded that when you turn to Christ, you are baptized.

  21:19-21:28

  Peter in Acts 2 says, "Repent and be baptized." It's commanded. It's part of coming to Christ.

  21:31-21:33

  It's a response to my faith.

  21:34-21:37

  The best way that I can describe baptism is it's like a wedding ceremony.

  21:40-21:44

  A wedding ceremony doesn't make me committed to my spouse.

  21:45-21:52

  It is the declaration before God and before man that I'm giving my life to this person.

  21:54-21:59

  You see, when I got married to Aaron, we didn't fall in love on the wedding day.

  22:02-22:06

  It was because of the love that we had for each other that we had the wedding ceremony.

  22:08-22:18

  But nothing magical happened at the ceremony as far as, "Well, now I love her, now I'm committed to her because we went through the ceremony." Baptism is the same way.

  22:20-22:21

  Baptism is a symbol.

  22:22-22:37

  And just as on the wedding day, I declared before God and man that I'm making a commitment to this woman, baptism is you're making a declaration for God and man, that you are committing yourself to being a follower of Jesus Christ.

  22:41-22:45

  Baptism is a visible God-chosen, God-commanded response to my faith.

  22:47-22:48

  So who is baptism for?

  22:48-22:49

  Letter B.

  22:50-22:54

  It is for people who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

  22:57-22:59

  Again, baptism does not save you.

  23:00-23:04

  is the expression that you have been saved.

  23:06-23:08

  Baptism itself does not save you.

  23:09-23:14

  There are some preachers and there are some churches that teach unless you're baptized, you're unsaved.

  23:16-23:29

  I actually knew a hospital chaplain that had this elderly woman that was hooked up to all sorts of machines and tubes and she wanted to receive Christ and this hospital chaplain said, "We need to get her to the tub.

  23:29-23:34

  to get her baptized so she can go to heaven." And the medical staff was like, "You can't move this woman.

  23:35-23:51

  If you unhook her, you're going to kill her right now." And this chaplain was like, "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do for you." And he walked away, leaving these people feeling like this elderly woman was heading for hell simply because she wasn't able to get baptized.

  23:52-23:54

  Now let me ask you, does that sound like the character of God?

  23:56-23:59

  Does that gel with what you read about God and His Word?

  23:59-24:00

  Absolutely not.

  24:02-24:04

  Baptism doesn't save you.

  24:06-24:09

  It's the expression that you have been saved.

  24:10-24:13

  It's for people that have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

  24:15-24:17

  Common excuses for not getting baptized.

  24:17-24:19

  I want you to jot these down.

  24:20-24:22

  Common excuses for not getting baptized.

  24:25-25:06

  now as soon as we talk about baptism there's somebody here that hasn't been baptized and you're like yeah and here's why I haven't I'm gonna go through these number one I was baptized as a baby I was baptized as a baby well the problem with that is babies are unable to accept or reject Jesus Christ I remember when Both of my kids were born at McGee Hospital, and I'll never forget each time, "Congratulations, Mr. Miller, it's a boy." And they handed me this baby, and I would say, "Owen, are you ready right now to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

  25:07-25:08

  Are you ready to turn from your sin?

  25:09-25:11

  Okay, let's get baptized." Obviously not.

  25:12-25:14

  Babies are unable to do that.

  25:14-25:18

  You don't see baptism for babies anywhere in Scripture.

  25:18-25:19

  You don't see it.

  25:19-25:27

  Every single time somebody's baptized, because they are responding to the call of the Holy Spirit.

  25:27-25:30

  They're responding to salvation in Jesus Christ.

  25:33-25:34

  The result of being born again.

  25:35-25:35

  It's a picture.

  25:37-25:39

  So being baptized as a baby doesn't count.

  25:41-25:45

  I kind of wish that it did count though, because I was baptized three times.

  25:45-25:46

  I was baptized as a baby Lutheran.

  25:47-26:09

  I was baptized when I was 12 Methodist, baptized when I came to Christ when I was 20. I'd like to think that that gives me like three times more spirituality than the rest of you. It doesn't. It doesn't. Baptism that I experienced when I was a baby, I don't even remember it. And it doesn't mean anything, biblically.

  26:12-26:23

  So, common excuses for not getting baptized. I was baptized as a baby. That's I defend my parents, or I defend my family.

  26:25-26:28

  Some people don't want to get baptized because they're afraid of who that might offend.

  26:29-26:51

  And we already saw in the book of Acts, the slogan that hangs over every true follower of Christ is in Acts 5.29 when the apostles said, "We must obey God rather than men." We live in a day that we're so afraid we're going to offend somebody, except for God.

  26:53-26:55

  Let's be more concerned about offending Him.

  26:56-27:00

  Number three, I need to wait until I'm on track spiritually.

  27:02-27:23

  Some people say, "You know Pastor Jeff, I know I need to get baptized, but right now I'm just not on track spiritually, and I'd really rather wait until I'm on track." So you're saying you're struggling in some area of obedience, so you're going to forfeit another clear area of obedience until you get this other one cleared up.

  27:26-27:27

  You can't change yourself.

  27:30-27:34

  Be obedient. Yield to Christ. He's the one that changes you.

  27:35-27:38

  If you're waiting until you're perfectly on track spiritually, it's never going to happen.

  27:40-27:41

  You don't have the ability.

  27:44-27:48

  Number four, I don't like being in front of people.

  27:49-27:53

  I can promise you that there's nothing to be shy or ashamed about.

  27:53-27:55

  This is a glorious testimony.

  27:57-27:58

  It's a glorious testimony.

  28:00-28:03

  Don't let shyness hinder you from taking this important step.

  28:03-28:06

  Number five, I need to pray about it.

  28:07-28:08

  I need to pray about it.

  28:08-28:09

  Really, we talked about this last week.

  28:10-28:11

  It's not really to pray about.

  28:11-28:13

  It's a matter of simple obedience.

  28:13-28:16

  When God says to do something, you honor Him and you do it.

  28:18-28:19

  What is baptism?

  28:20-28:26

  "Baptism is a visible, God-chosen, God-commanded response to my faith." Letter B, who is baptism for?

  28:27-28:30

  It is for people who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

  28:31-28:33

  Letter C, what is the purpose of baptism?

  28:36-28:38

  It is the profession of faith.

  28:39-28:41

  It is the profession of faith.

  28:43-28:50

  Meaning, coming to Christ was never meant to be signified by signing a card or walking an aisle or raising a hand.

  28:51-28:54

  Biblically, the profession of faith is in baptism.

  28:56-28:58

  This is what God chose.

  28:58-29:07

  Romans 6:1-5 In baptism, you are graphically identifying with the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  29:08-29:09

  That's why it's done by immersion.

  29:10-29:12

  You see, it's a picture, just like we talked about a wedding ceremony.

  29:13-29:15

  In a wedding, you have all these pictures.

  29:15-29:24

  You have the white dress, and you have the wedding ring, and you've got the flowers, and you've got the smashing the cake in each other's faces or whatever.

  29:24-29:27

  You've got all these pictures at a wedding that symbolize something.

  29:28-29:33

  Well, baptism is a picture of death and resurrection.

  29:33-29:37

  When you go under the water, what you're saying is, "I'm dead.

  29:37-29:44

  I'm buried." And then when you come up out of the water, you're identifying with the resurrection of Christ.

  29:44-29:53

  "I am raised in the newness of life with Jesus Christ." It is the profession of faith when it's done by immersion.

  29:54-29:57

  And finally, when should a person be baptized?

  29:59-30:03

  It is to be done immediately on belief.

  30:05-30:11

  The question comes up, "What if I've already been baptized?" Well, has it been since you believed in Jesus Christ?

  30:14-30:15

  If not, then you should be baptized.

  30:17-30:23

  Or some say, "I came to Christ a while ago and I didn't get baptized immediately.

  30:23-30:26

  Is it too late?" Is there an expiration date?

  30:26-30:44

  Is there a statute of limitations on how long between conversion and baptism, all I can say is this, I don't know what you knew then about baptism, but now you know some things about baptism, and you can only act on what you know.

  30:45-30:52

  So if you've never taken that step, as of today you don't have an excuse not to take that step.

  30:54-30:57

  I encourage people to take their next available opportunity.

  30:59-31:00

  So what is baptism?

  31:03-31:05

  The visible God, chosen God, commanded response to faith.

  31:06-31:07

  What is baptism for?

  31:07-31:10

  It's for people who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

  31:10-31:11

  What's the purpose?

  31:12-31:13

  It is the profession of faith.

  31:15-31:16

  Once you're a person, be baptized.

  31:18-31:25

  A person should be baptized as soon as possible on belief in Jesus Christ.

  31:26-31:29

  We're going to close our time in worship, and we're going to have some people up front here to pray.

  31:31-31:32

  And you can come up and pray for any reason.

  31:34-31:36

  Or maybe there's someone here today that says, you know what?

  31:36-31:37

  I need to take that step.

  31:38-31:40

  I need to be baptized.

  31:40-31:41

  I want to come forward.

  31:42-31:50

  And I want to have my name on that list for August 7 so I can glorify God with a professional.

  31:51-31:52

  Let's pray.

  31:53-31:54

  and we'll worship and you come down and pray with us.

  31:55-32:02

  Father in Heaven, You've called every single one of us to be ambassadors for Christ.

  32:04-32:09

  And I thank You for clear instruction like we see in the life of Philip.

  32:11-32:13

  What effective evangelism looks like.

  32:13-32:15

  It's finding people who are seeking.

  32:15-32:16

  It's meeting people where they're at.

  32:16-32:19

  It's talking to them about Jesus.

  32:21-32:23

  is encouraging a response.

  32:25-32:32

  Father, I pray for those that are making that profession of faith here in August.

  32:34-32:38

  What a glorious testimony it is at the way You've taken a dead person and made them alive.

  32:40-32:45

  I pray, Father, if there's anyone else here that needs to take that step.

  32:48-33:05

  Whatever obstacles in the way, Father, I pray that the desire to glorify Your name, the desire to do something very simple that You've called us to do, I pray that that desire would override anything else that might be hindering that decision.

  33:07-33:15

  Father, we thank You for this glorious picture that You've given us in baptism, what actually takes place when we're born again.

  33:18-33:24

  We are dead and we have been made alive in Christ's name.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 8:26-40

1. How can you tell if an unsaved person YOU know (coworker, gym buddy, neighbor, whatever) is seeking?

2. In Acts 8:35, we see Philip’s message was about Jesus. What specifically do unsaved people need to know about Jesus?

3. *Imagine a Christian friend of yours never got baptized, but asked you, "Why should I get baptized?" How would you answer this?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

The Power is Not for Sale.

Review:

Repent: 4 Sins that Will Keep You From Christ

1. Thinking too much of Yourself. (Acts 8:9-11)



See Matt 5:3



2. Thinking too much of Religion. (Acts 8:12-13)



3. Thinking too much of Money. (Acts 8:14-19)



See Rom 8:9 | Isa 55:1
Listen to I Love to Give!



4. Thinking only of Consequences. (Acts 8:20-25)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Power and Witness - The Power is Not for Sale.

Jeff Miller

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• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:04

  Open your Bibles with me please to the book of Acts, in chapter 8.

  00:05-00:07

  We took a break last week.

  00:09-00:12

  We took a break last week from our series in Acts.

  00:16-00:20

  We're looking at how Jesus would have responded to the Orlando nightclub shooting.

  00:21-00:22

  We're going to be in Acts chapter 8.

  00:22-00:40

  We're going to be picking up in verse 9 and just to give you a little bit of a review, We met a young minister in the book of Acts named Stephen who was violently murdered by the religious council, by the Jewish council.

  00:41-00:52

  They murdered him because he pointed out their constant rebellion against the Lord and their constant rejection of the people that God sends to them.

  00:54-00:58

  And after the murder of Stephen, persecution broke out against the Christians in Jerusalem.

  01:00-01:09

  And because of the persecution, the Bible says that the believers scattered, and as they scattered, they were preaching the good news of Jesus Christ where they went.

  01:09-01:15

  And we saw how God used that persecution to spread His church.

  01:17-01:28

  One believer in particular was a man named Philip went to Samaria and preached Jesus to a receptive audience.

  01:29-01:31

  We get to verse 9.

  01:32-01:35

  The Bible here zeroes in on a man named Simon.

  01:35-01:37

  Now, this isn't Simon Peter.

  01:37-01:40

  This is a different Simon that we're going to be talking about today.

  01:42-01:45

  This Simon was a magician.

  01:46-01:47

  What does that mean?

  01:49-01:53

  Well, in this day, It would have meant a lot of things.

  01:53-01:55

  It would have meant occultic stuff.

  01:55-01:57

  It would have been sleight of hand.

  01:57-01:59

  It would have been demonic.

  02:00-02:03

  It would have been all of the above.

  02:05-02:08

  But I need to tell you this in a front end before we get to the text.

  02:12-02:14

  Simon wasn't truly saved.

  02:17-02:20

  Well, how do you know that Simon isn't saved in this passage?

  02:20-02:23

  We know this because the Holy Spirit tells us.

  02:23-02:35

  In verse 21, Peter says to Simon, "You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God." Peter, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he knows.

  02:35-02:39

  He says, "Your heart's not right before God." He's not saved.

  02:40-02:47

  And we're going to see a lot of clues in the text pointing to this truth that Simon isn't saved.

  02:47-02:54

  And the reason that I have to tell you this is because as we go through the text, he seems pretty legitimate at first.

  02:55-03:03

  He's like, "Yeah, this guy's getting it!" But we find out in the later verses that he never got it.

  03:05-03:07

  He's like a lot of church people.

  03:09-03:16

  Many people miss the power that we've been talking about - the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God's indwelling presence.

  03:16-03:22

  Many people miss the power because they didn't truly repent and come to Jesus Christ.

  03:24-03:25

  And these people become churchgoers.

  03:26-03:27

  They become church members.

  03:27-03:29

  They become pew sitters.

  03:31-03:33

  That's what I was for the first 20 years of my life.

  03:33-03:41

  I thought I was saved because I went to Sunday school, and then I went to church, and then sometimes I went to youth group.

  03:42-03:45

  I remember having this conversation with people as a teen.

  03:45-03:46

  They would ask me if I was saved.

  03:47-03:48

  Of course I'm saved.

  03:48-03:50

  I go to church every week.

  03:52-03:54

  I go to Sunday school every week.

  03:55-04:00

  And I was basing my salvation on association.

  04:03-04:18

  And if I can miss it, and this guy that we're looking at today, Simon, if he can miss it, especially him with who he knew and what he saw, you need to listen up because There might be some people here this morning that missed it.

  04:20-04:22

  You might be a member of the church.

  04:22-04:26

  You might be sitting in the church.

  04:27-04:28

  You're not truly saved.

  04:33-04:36

  Peter's message to Simon, he says your heart's not right.

  04:36-04:36

  You need to repent.

  04:37-04:39

  We talked about that last week.

  04:40-04:44

  Remember when Jesus was asked about the tragedy at the temple.

  04:47-05:06

  Jesus said, "Do you suppose those Galileans were worse sinners than anyone else in Jerusalem?" He says, "I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." So you see, the focal point of the message last week and the focal point of our passage again this week, it revolves around this word repentance.

  05:09-05:11

  It's all through the Old Testament.

  05:11-05:12

  every prophet in the Old Testament.

  05:14-05:15

  Preach, you need to repent.

  05:16-05:18

  John the Baptist shows up and he preaches repentance.

  05:18-05:21

  We saw last week Jesus preaching repentance.

  05:21-05:22

  We see in the epistles.

  05:24-05:24

  Repentance.

  05:25-05:32

  Even the book of Revelation as Jesus is addressing the churches, you see it over and over and over and over in Revelation 2 and 3.

  05:33-05:34

  Repent, repent, repent.

  05:35-05:39

  Why is it such a constant and consistent message in the Bible?

  05:40-05:42

  The truth is there is no salvation without repentance.

  05:45-05:47

  There's no salvation without repentance.

  05:49-05:55

  And I was thinking this week of how we can illustrate repentance.

  05:56-05:57

  What does repentance look like?

  05:58-06:04

  And Aaron reminded me of something from a few years ago, actually going back to 2010.

  06:04-06:06

  You remember the story broke?

  06:06-06:14

  This was one of, I know we've had a lot of big news stories since 2010, but this particular news story was one that probably hit me the hardest.

  06:15-06:21

  You remember when it came out that all of the stuff in Taco Bell's meat wasn't actually meat?

  06:22-06:23

  How many people remember that story?

  06:26-06:33

  Oh no, I just realized that I totally like ruined somebody's life today if you didn't know that.

  06:34-06:45

  But yeah, the story came out that all of the stuff in Taco Bell's meat isn't -- It's not all meat. Some of it is. What was the word they used? It was like silicone something.

  06:46-06:59

  They had this big long term, and I remember at the time they were like, "That's just a fancy way of saying sand." Okay, so the Taco Bell, it's got some meat and it's got sand. Now look, I'm, Michael's shrugging his shoulders.

  06:59-07:02

  He's like, "Hey, sand, it tastes good!" Right?

  07:02-07:04

  I like sand, you know, sandwich.

  07:05-07:06

  Who doesn't like that?

  07:06-07:08

  I see it.

  07:09-07:10

  [ Laughter ]

  07:12-07:22

  Well, this was such a heartbreaker for me because when I worked at Walmart, Taco Bell was right across the street from the store where I worked.

  07:23-07:25

  Every lunch break, it was just -- it was cheap.

  07:25-07:29

  You know, for three bucks, you could get a bunch of tacos and a Pepsi.

  07:30-07:40

  This was crushing to me to find out that the stuff inside that shell wasn't all meat.

  07:43-07:50

  And when I found out, that changed my mind and it changed my attitude towards Taco Bell and I stopped eating there.

  07:52-07:58

  I know you're going to find it hard to believe with this chiseled body that I have, but I used to eat at Taco Bell a lot.

  07:59-08:00

  You didn't have to laugh there.

  08:02-08:04

  Amen would have been appropriate, but you didn't need to laugh.

  08:04-08:10

  But I used to eat there a lot, and Aaron will tell you, it was one of my favorite places.

  08:10-08:13

  And then all of a sudden, I just -- how many times have we eaten at Taco Bell since we found out?

  08:14-08:15

  Like, not at all.

  08:17-08:21

  Because that totally changed the way that I thought about Taco Bell.

  08:22-08:24

  I'm not here to bash Taco Bell.

  08:24-08:33

  "Hey, if you and Muckle want to go get a sandy burrito after church, that's your business." I'm just making an illustration here.

  08:36-08:38

  But you see, this is what repentance is like.

  08:39-08:45

  My mind changed about the way I viewed Taco Bell, so my actions followed.

  08:45-08:46

  I stopped eating there.

  08:47-08:50

  And that's how it is with repentance from sin.

  08:50-08:52

  Repentance literally means you change your mind.

  08:52-08:54

  You start to think about your sin differently.

  08:54-08:56

  You think about God differently.

  08:57-09:01

  And when you do, your actions follow.

  09:03-09:05

  But it has to start with changing your mind.

  09:05-09:08

  And that's what we're going to be looking at through the text on your outline today.

  09:12-09:12

  Repent.

  09:13-09:16

  These are four sins that are going to keep you from Jesus Christ.

  09:16-09:18

  Four things that we see in the life of Simon.

  09:18-09:21

  Four things that will keep you from Jesus Christ.

  09:22-09:24

  Number one, jot this down, thinking too much of yourself.

  09:25-09:27

  Thinking too much of yourself.

  09:27-09:29

  Look at verse 9.

  09:31-09:33

  So we're with Philip in Samaria, right?

  09:34-09:48

  Verse 9 says, "But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.

  09:51-10:08

  They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the power of God that is called great." And they paid attention to him because for a long time, he had amazed them with his magic.

  10:09-10:09

  We'll stop there.

  10:09-10:44

  Right off the bat, we see that And then He said that What we see in our text is Simon had a huge problem.

  10:44-10:46

  The problem is he thought he was great.

  10:50-11:02

  That's still a problem because when we talk about pride, this elevated view of yourself, pride is one of these socially acceptable sins.

  11:05-11:10

  Things like stealing and gossip and lying, those things aren't accepted.

  11:10-11:13

  Those things are sort of universally looked at as bad things.

  11:13-11:16

  The problem with pride is some people think pride is a virtue.

  11:17-11:18

  Thinking great about yourself.

  11:19-11:21

  That's a good thing, thinking that you're someone great.

  11:23-11:26

  Pride is actually the root of every other sin.

  11:30-11:39

  In Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, Jesus was talking about what it looks like when somebody comes to faith.

  11:41-12:02

  In the first step, Jesus said - you might know these as the Beatitudes - but the first thing - in the spiritual journey, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." Jesus was teaching that spiritual life starts with being broken over your sin.

  12:04-12:05

  That's where it has to start.

  12:06-12:08

  You have to be broken over your sin.

  12:09-12:14

  You have to get to that point where you realize I'm not someone great.

  12:17-12:17

  I'm a sinner.

  12:19-12:19

  And I need saved.

  12:21-12:23

  That's where the spiritual journey starts.

  12:24-12:27

  But listen, I want you to understand, we talk about pride, we talk about humility.

  12:27-12:33

  Some people think, "Well, you know, I don't have that problem, Pastor Jeff, is I don't think I'm great.

  12:34-12:36

  On the other hand, I think I'm a loser.

  12:36-12:38

  I think I'm terrible.

  12:38-12:39

  I'm a horrible person.

  12:39-12:41

  Nobody loves me.

  12:42-12:47

  That's actually a form of pride, because you're still putting way too much emphasis on yourself.

  12:48-12:50

  You're still thinking too much about yourself.

  12:51-12:52

  It's false humility.

  12:53-12:58

  When the emphasis, when the focus is all on me, me, me, it's pride.

  13:01-13:03

  Humility is not thinking less of yourself.

  13:03-13:06

  Humility is thinking of yourself less.

  13:09-13:11

  You see, this was Simon's problem right off the bat.

  13:11-13:20

  If you think you're a great person and you don't need salvation, you're not going to accept God's gift in Jesus Christ.

  13:21-13:24

  It's a tragic thing when you see it actually played out in front of you.

  13:26-13:29

  I had a lady ask me if I would visit her grandma who was in the hospital.

  13:30-13:37

  Grandma was like late 90s and she said, look, the doctor says she doesn't have much time left.

  13:39-13:41

  And she doesn't know the Lord, can you go talk to her?

  13:41-13:46

  So I went to the hospital and I sat down and I wanted to share the gospel with this lady.

  13:46-13:51

  And I said, you know, the Bible says that we're all, you know, born with a sin nature.

  13:51-13:53

  We're born alienated and enemies from God.

  13:54-13:55

  And she interrupted me.

  13:55-13:56

  She goes, I'm not.

  13:58-14:07

  I'm like, "You're not?" She goes, "I'm not a sinner." I said, "You're not a sinner." She goes, "I know. I'm not a sinner." I went through the Ten Commandments with her.

  14:07-14:20

  I'm like, "Has God always been first in your life, all the time, every time, in everything?" She's like, "Yeah." I'm even getting to some of the ones that I'm like, I've had similar conversations.

  14:21-14:23

  You get to some of the commandments, you know you've got people.

  14:23-14:58

  Like, you know the Fifth Commandment, "Honor your father and mother." Have you always honored your parents. He's like yeah yeah I've always honored my parents. Then I'm like okay this is the trump card right the ninth commandment do not bear false witness do not lie I'm like you like I got her then I got her now I'm like if you always told the truth you've never told a lie. I've never lied. I walked out of the hospital that day I'm thinking okay there have been two perfect people in the world apparently, Jesus Christ, and by her own admission, this woman.

  14:58-15:04

  But it was so hard, she couldn't get to that place where she's like, you know what, I've realized I've done some wrong things in my life.

  15:05-15:12

  She was convinced she's a great person and doesn't need a Savior.

  15:16-15:16

  That's a problem.

  15:18-15:52

  You know, it would be like if you were like if you were eating a sandwich, and the sandwich had some of the Taco Bell sand in it, and also it had garlic and onion and curry, and you get done eating the sandwich, and you just have the nastiest breath in existence. And it's true, your breath is horrible, and you need a mint, and the world knows it, and your family knows it, and your dog knows it, And everybody knows you have this horrible breath.

  15:55-15:57

  But it's not going to matter until you know.

  16:00-16:04

  And even then, it doesn't matter unless you do something about it.

  16:07-16:14

  You see, if you finally get to that place in your life, you're like, "My breath is pretty bad." You just walk around like, "By the way, my breath is horrible.

  16:14-16:16

  Don't stand too close." You didn't really fix the problem.

  16:18-16:19

  You know what it is with the sin nature.

  16:20-16:23

  You can get to that place in your life where you're like, you know what, Pastor Jeff, you're right.

  16:25-16:26

  I am a sinner.

  16:26-16:27

  I have messed up.

  16:28-16:30

  You can't stop there.

  16:33-16:34

  You can't stop there.

  16:36-16:43

  You need to take that next step and say, ok, I'm a sinner, I can't do anything about it, but God has done something about it on my behalf.

  16:45-16:49

  You don't need to receive His provision in Jesus Christ.

  16:50-16:52

  You see, that's the picture of repentance.

  16:55-16:59

  You need to know that you need it and you need to do something about it.

  17:01-17:04

  You're pretty impressed with yourself and you need to repent.

  17:06-17:07

  That was Simon's problem, first of all.

  17:07-17:08

  Let's go on in the text.

  17:08-17:12

  Number two, these are four sins that keep you from Christ.

  17:12-17:13

  Thinking too much of yourself.

  17:14-17:15

  thinking too much of religion.

  17:17-17:18

  Look at v. 12.

  17:19-17:24

  It says, "But when they believed..." These are the people in Samaria.

  17:25-17:39

  "But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." We're just going to pause here.

  17:39-17:41

  I want you to note the content of Philip's sermon here.

  17:43-17:46

  didn't roll into Samaria and give felt-needs sermons.

  17:47-18:00

  He didn't show up and say, "Hey, what's a sermon that would really tickle these people's ears?" It says the content of a sermon is two things.

  18:00-18:01

  Number one, he says the kingdom.

  18:02-18:03

  The kingdom.

  18:04-18:05

  What's the kingdom of God?

  18:06-18:08

  The kingdom of God, that comes up over and over and over and over in the Bible.

  18:09-18:11

  It refers to God's rule on the earth.

  18:12-18:13

  God rules on the earth through people.

  18:17-18:22

  And in the Old Testament, we have the patriarchs and the kings during Israel's time and such.

  18:24-18:31

  But you see, in our day, God's rule on the earth through people is through the power of His Holy Spirit who indwells people.

  18:31-18:35

  That's the kind of message that Philip would have been giving here.

  18:37-18:41

  It also says that he was preaching what?

  18:43-18:45

  The name of Jesus Christ.

  18:46-18:47

  No ambiguity here.

  18:50-18:51

  Look at verse 13.

  18:53-19:00

  It says, "Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized, he continued with Philip.

  19:01-19:05

  And seeing the signs and great miracles performed, He was amazed.

  19:08-19:15

  So Simon here sees all these people coming to Philip, responding to the message to the point that Simon himself gets baptized.

  19:15-19:17

  He wasn't saved, but he got baptized.

  19:20-19:23

  It wasn't done as a result of faith.

  19:25-19:27

  I think he was just caught up with the crowds.

  19:28-19:30

  I think he was impressed with Philip.

  19:31-19:32

  He wasn't accompanied with faith.

  19:34-19:36

  He wasn't transformed.

  19:38-19:42

  Your Bible says that Simon believed.

  19:42-19:43

  Simon was baptized.

  19:44-19:45

  Simon continued with Philip.

  19:45-19:48

  If we just stop right here, we would be like, this guy's a Christian.

  19:49-19:50

  I mean, he's showing all the signs.

  19:51-19:53

  What about Simon doesn't look like a Christian?

  19:55-20:01

  We'll see here in a second that he thought he was a Christian simply by works or association.

  20:04-20:11

  Meaning this, being in church doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you an automobile.

  20:13-20:17

  Being in a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a bakery makes you a donut.

  20:18-20:24

  Being in a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than attending an MMA match makes you a fighter.

  20:26-20:28

  That's the danger of religion.

  20:30-20:32

  Religion is Satan's favorite word.

  20:33-20:52

  Because if you can trust in your works, if you can trust in the things that you do to bring about your salvation, to appease God, if you can trust in your works, then you don't need to trust in Jesus.

  20:55-20:59

  And ultimately, trusting your religion is just trusting yourself anyways, and we're back to the pride issue.

  21:02-21:04

  And it can happen here at church.

  21:04-21:12

  People being baptized and attending church and going to small group and involved with the children's ministry or the worship team.

  21:12-21:15

  These are all great things and these are all great things that you should be involved in.

  21:17-21:24

  But if you're evaluating the genuineness of your faith because you're keeping a checklist, then you need to repent.

  21:26-21:29

  Philip at this point really thought that he had something going.

  21:32-21:35

  God's not impressed by your religion.

  21:36-21:37

  God's after the relationship.

  21:39-21:44

  The four sins that will keep you from Christ - first, thinking too much of yourself; Secondly, thinking too much of religion.

  21:46-21:48

  Thirdly, thinking too much of money.

  21:51-21:52

  Thinking too much of money.

  21:52-21:53

  Look at verse 14.

  21:56-22:10

  It says, "Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

  22:11-22:19

  He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

  22:21-22:25

  Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

  22:26-22:30

  We've got to stop here because maybe you're like me when you first read this passage.

  22:30-22:31

  You're like, what in the world is going on here?

  22:32-22:37

  If these people received the Word of God and wanted to truly believe, why didn't the Holy Spirit fall on them?

  22:38-22:42

  Understand that this passage is descriptive, prescriptive.

  22:43-22:48

  Romans 8 and 9 says that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

  22:49-22:55

  The truth is when anyone receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God's Holy Spirit comes and indwells you.

  22:56-22:58

  You're like, great, that's what I thought.

  22:58-22:59

  So what's going on in this passage?

  23:01-23:05

  Understand that this was a transitional time in history.

  23:07-23:08

  And this was huge.

  23:09-23:20

  is you have the Jews in Jerusalem who have received Christ and received the Holy Spirit, but now you have some Samaritans who the Jews completely hated.

  23:21-23:23

  They're wanting to come and receive Jesus Christ.

  23:24-23:31

  And you can see the potential for - I'll tell you what, you can have your brand of Christianity, and we'll have our brand of Christianity.

  23:31-23:33

  And we never have to interact.

  23:34-23:36

  We're not going to the church picnic together.

  23:36-23:38

  I'll do your thing, I'll do my thing.

  23:40-23:45

  You see, you have a unity issue here and you have an authority issue here.

  23:46-23:55

  And the purpose of sending the apostles from Jerusalem was to unify the Christians in Jerusalem and the Christians in Samaria.

  23:56-23:59

  One church, one spirit, same team.

  24:02-24:03

  Look at verse 18.

  24:05-24:08

  This is where Simon is starting to show his true colors.

  24:10-24:34

  Verse 18 says, "Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'" What's going on here?

  24:34-24:42

  Well, it was very common in Simon's day for magicians like this to buy and sell secrets from each other.

  24:44-24:45

  Does anybody here know a magic trick?

  24:46-24:46

  Anyone?

  24:48-24:49

  I'm not going to make you do it now.

  24:49-24:50

  I just was curious.

  24:51-24:53

  I know one magic trick.

  24:53-24:53

  I can do one.

  24:53-24:54

  I'm not going to do it today.

  24:55-24:57

  But I can do the whole make the card appear out of midair.

  24:58-24:59

  You know that trick?

  25:00-25:01

  You don't know that?

  25:01-25:02

  I'll have to show you sometime.

  25:02-25:10

  But anyways, I know one magic trick, and if you're interested in learning how to do it, if you give me $25, I'll show you how to do it.

  25:11-25:15

  See, that's the kind of thing that happened in Simon's day.

  25:15-25:16

  They would buy and sell.

  25:16-25:17

  Hey, I like that trick.

  25:17-25:20

  I'll tell you what, if I give you some money, can I use that in my act?

  25:20-25:22

  And that's what these magicians would do.

  25:22-25:31

  So the apostles come down, and they pray on these New Samaritan Christians, and they receive the Holy Spirit, and Simon's like, "That's what I'm talking about!

  25:32-25:33

  I want to know how that trick is done.

  25:34-25:36

  And he pulls out his wallet.

  25:37-25:40

  He's like, hey, I want to buy that trick from you.

  25:41-25:42

  I've been watching Philip.

  25:43-25:45

  I've seen some big things happening.

  25:45-25:48

  And now Peter and John come down.

  25:48-25:50

  And I've got to know this trick.

  25:50-25:55

  I want to do the lay hands on someone and they receive the Holy Spirit trick.

  25:55-25:58

  I want that to be part of my act.

  26:00-26:04

  There's a problem, obviously, for Simon.

  26:05-26:08

  And that is just simply this - nothing of God is for sale.

  26:10-26:16

  Nothing of God can be earned, can be bartered for, reimbursed.

  26:16-26:26

  Isaiah 55:1 "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat.

  26:27-26:31

  Come, buy wine and milk without money at a low price.

  26:32-26:34

  Wait a minute, God's saying come and buy it?

  26:36-26:38

  He's saying yeah, you who don't have money, come and buy it.

  26:38-26:39

  He's saying it's free!

  26:41-26:45

  Everything that the Lord wants to do in your life, it's free.

  26:46-26:47

  You can't pay for it or earn it.

  26:49-26:52

  At this point, Simon reveals that he completely doesn't get it.

  26:54-26:56

  That he wasn't interested in eternal life.

  26:59-27:03

  He's interesting in adding this trick to his acts.

  27:05-27:15

  TV preachers today portray the Gospel as some monetary transaction to buy the blessing.

  27:16-27:19

  See, we can look at this account with Simon and be like, man, glad people don't do that today.

  27:20-27:22

  Just watch some of these TV preachers.

  27:24-27:27

  Send your money, and God will send the blessing.

  27:28-27:33

  "Send me money and God will send you a blessing." And we're just like Simon now.

  27:35-27:48

  I really need a blessing from God, so if I send him a check, he said - and those people just prey on innocent but immature people.

  27:50-28:01

  I saw the one guy, he was making the appeal, "Send your $1,000." If you send $1,000, that $1,000 is a seed.

  28:01-28:07

  And you send me that $1,000 seed, God's going to have this bountiful harvest in your life.

  28:08-28:13

  And he says, "Let me tell you how this works." I can't remember what kind of car it was.

  28:13-28:15

  It was some new BMW was out.

  28:19-28:23

  A man came to me and he said, "Hey, I want to give you a car.

  28:23-28:46

  Let me give you a car." And he said, "I have cars." "Do you have this new BMW model that was just out?" He goes, "No, I don't have that one." And the guy says, "You tell me what color "and I'll get it for you." And this TV preacher says, "So I told him I want a black one "with a black interior." He said, "That thing was in my driveway the next morning." They looked at the camera and he said, "And that's what God wants to do in your life.

  28:48-28:52

  "You want these kind of blessings to happen in your life, "it's easy, plant that seed.

  28:52-28:58

  "You send me $1,000 and plant that seed and God's going to be blessing you.

  29:00-29:03

  I wanted to jump through the TV and tighten that guy's tie.

  29:04-29:05

  Really tight.

  29:07-29:10

  Because he's praying on innocent, immature people.

  29:12-29:13

  It's just like Simon.

  29:15-29:16

  Spend some money, get the blessing.

  29:19-29:23

  Does God bless sincere, generous, joyful giving? Absolutely.

  29:24-29:37

  We did a whole sermon series on that called "I Love to Give." Church, I have to tell you, if that's your motive - I'll give to God so that He gives me something amazing - then your motives are selfish and you need to repent.

  29:38-29:42

  If that's your motive, you need to repent.

  29:43-29:44

  You're making too much of money.

  29:47-29:49

  Lastly, thinking only of consequences.

  29:51-30:19

  Thinking only of consequences - Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money." Now your English translation sort of softens this passage a little bit, because in the original Greek it reads more like Peter said to him, "You know what?

  30:19-30:25

  To hell with you and your money." That was the tone that Peter was giving.

  30:28-30:34

  He says in verse 21, "You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

  30:35-30:46

  Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your hearts may be forgiven you.

  30:47-30:52

  For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.

  30:54-30:56

  Peter's like, "You're still in sin, man.

  30:57-30:57

  You don't get it.

  30:57-30:58

  Your heart's not right.

  30:58-30:59

  You're still in sin.

  31:00-31:23

  And you need to repent." Verse 24, "And Simon answered, 'Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.' And when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

  31:25-31:27

  Luke just kind of leaves you hanging with Simon there, doesn't he?

  31:28-31:52

  It's like Peter's like, "Man, you need to repent!" And he's like, "Man, would you pray for me?" Luke's like, "Okay, next, what happened to this guy?" Well, here's the last sin that will keep you from Christ from our passage - Thinking only of consequences.

  31:57-32:11

  Peter says to Simon, "You need to repent and you need to pray." But you notice Simon's response, he says, "Pray for me." Can you see that those are two different things?

  32:12-32:13

  He was like, "You need to repent.

  32:14-32:19

  Would you pray for me?" And I imagine Peter's thinking, "Yeah, I'll pray for you. I'm going to pray that you repent.

  32:20-32:29

  That's what I'm going to pray for you." When I was in Thailand, our missionary Barnabas, actually he's going to be coming to the States.

  32:29-32:30

  He's scheduled to be coming this October.

  32:30-32:34

  We're going to have him here at church to speak, and I'm so excited about that.

  32:34-32:46

  He was telling me this story that one of the people, he's got churches all over the mountain jungles in northern Thailand, One of his ministers got involved in sin.

  32:47-32:48

  This flagrant.

  32:49-32:56

  One of those "no questions about it, is this sinful, we better do a little Bible study on this." Like no question about it, he was caught in sin.

  32:57-33:03

  So Barnabas goes to the guy and he says, "You shouldn't have this relationship.

  33:03-33:10

  You need to repent and you need to break it off." And the man said to him, "I hear what you're saying.

  33:10-33:33

  I'm going to pray about that." He says, "There is nothing to pray about here." He says, "You pray when you're sick, or you're hurting, or you have some spiritual struggle." He says, "When you're in sin, it's not 'I should pray about it.' When you're in sin, you repent." It sounds like he went to the Peter School of Preaching.

  33:33-33:34

  Same kind of thing.

  33:38-33:41

  Because you see, Simon the magician here He was not worried about his heart.

  33:43-33:45

  Apparently he was only worried about consequences.

  33:48-33:50

  You see this in prison ministry all the time.

  33:51-34:00

  It's come to church in prison because you're experiencing remorse over the consequences, but you're not sorry that you sinned.

  34:00-34:01

  You're not sorry that you offended God.

  34:02-34:04

  You're not sorry that you hurt other people.

  34:05-34:08

  You're only sorry that you got caught paying the price for it.

  34:12-34:20

  So avoiding bad consequences, sure, that can be a motivator, but it can't be the motivator.

  34:22-34:29

  In other words, if all that you're focused on are temporal consequences, then you missed the whole point of the gospel.

  34:32-34:33

  And it still happens in churches.

  34:35-34:40

  Some people go to church because my wife is threatening me.

  34:42-34:46

  She says if I don't get religion, she's going to leave me.

  34:49-34:51

  That's why some people go to church.

  34:51-34:55

  They're not seeking the Lord, they're just trying to keep their marriage intact.

  34:57-35:00

  Some people go to church because they really want a raise at work.

  35:00-35:09

  If I go to church and God sees me trying to be a good boy, For some people, it's they find out they're sick.

  35:11-35:14

  And, you know, I've lived my life apart from God.

  35:14-35:17

  Maybe I should get serious about God.

  35:17-35:23

  Maybe He'll take this cancer or this disease from me.

  35:25-35:30

  Listen, all of these things can be ways that God is drawing you to Himself.

  35:32-35:34

  The point is, are you being drawn to God?

  35:36-35:41

  Or are you being drawn to, I just want to avoid bad consequences?

  35:42-35:44

  There's a huge difference there.

  35:46-36:03

  And you'll know when the circumstances change, if you're still seeking the Lord, if you're still walking with the Lord, or if circumstances change, and you just go back to your godless way of living.

  36:06-36:09

  Huge danger like Simon, thinking only of consequences.

  36:10-36:11

  So why repent?

  36:13-36:18

  Because God passionately wants you to come to salvation in Christ.

  36:18-36:21

  God passionately wants to transform you.

  36:23-36:24

  God wants to change you.

  36:25-36:40

  But you aren't going to truly come to Christ if you're thinking wrongly about yourself, if you're thinking wrongly about religion, if you're thinking wrongly about money, and if you're thinking wrongly about consequences.

  36:41-36:47

  As far as we come forward, we're going to close our time together today by receiving the Lord's Supper.

  36:49-37:00

  And I'm going to ask as the elements are passed out that you would hold on to them But you see, this is something we do on a regular basis.

  37:03-37:09

  One because Jesus told us to, but also this brings us back to the very heart of the Gospel.

  37:12-37:19

  This is our reminder of the truth of all of these points that we talked about today, that we see in this text.

  37:20-37:22

  All of these areas in which we need to repent.

  37:24-37:32

  Because receiving the Lord's Supper The Lord's Supper reminds us that by nature, by nature I am a sinner and I can't save myself.

  37:35-37:38

  The Lord's Supper reminds us I can't earn my way.

  37:39-37:44

  I can't do enough to make God happy or to erase all of the bad things I've done.

  37:47-37:50

  Coming to the Lord's table reminds us I can't buy my way.

  37:53-37:59

  as a reminder that God saved me so that I may know Him.

  38:00-38:04

  So that I may come into a relationship with Him.

  38:06-38:07

  I'm going to pray.

  38:07-38:09

  Our ushers are going to pass out.

  38:09-38:14

  Like I said, I'm going to ask that you hold on to the elements and we'll receive the Lord's Supper together.

  38:16-38:27

  Father in Heaven, as we gather around Your table, we're reminded of the price of our salvation.

  38:30-38:35

  So often we try to take some of that on ourselves.

  38:37-38:57

  When the truth is Christ and Christ alone, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, our Mediator, our High Priest, Jesus Christ Himself is the only one who can give us eternal life.

  38:59-39:14

  Father, as a church, as we gather around your table, I pray that we would take a sobering look at Christ that was paid, at the work that is accomplished, that we may come into that relationship with Him.

  39:15-39:17

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 8:9-25

1. Do you think Simon was saved in this passage? Why or why not? Do you think HE thought he was? Why or why not?

2. How did Peter know Simon’s heart wasn’t right (Acts 8:21-22)?

3. Is "fear of consequences" a right motivation to get saved? Why or why not?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.

A Biblical Response to Tragedy.

How to View a Tragedy, According to Jesus.

1. Tragedy can happen to Anyone.



2. Tragedy is always Unexpected.



3. Tragedy is a wake-up call for the Living.



Review: Eccl 7:2 | John 3:16



4. Tragedy is a reminder to the Church for Urgency.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

A Biblical Response to Tragedy

Jeff Miller

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• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:02

  We've been going through this series in the book of Acts.

  00:03-00:05

  You receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

  00:05-00:06

  You'll be My witnesses.

  00:07-00:14

  Every year, during the summer, I plan the entire next year's preaching calendar.

  00:15-00:21

  And I've found such great value to study ahead and have an idea of where we're heading and what we're studying.

  00:21-00:28

  And there's a great value to me and I think there's a great value for us as a church walking through the Scriptures together.

  00:29-00:41

  And in light of some recent events, again at our elders meeting on Tuesday, I went and talked to my brothers, and the Lord has really just laid it on my heart to step away from the book of Acts for a week.

  00:42-00:45

  And we're going to be talking about tragedy.

  00:46-00:54

  In light of the shootings in Orlando last week, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Luke 13.

  00:58-01:11

  While there's certainly value in having a plan and going through the Scriptures, I also think there's a value in trusting the Holy Spirit when He says, "Hey, this is something that we need to talk about.

  01:13-01:15

  Every single person in this room is thinking about this.

  01:16-01:21

  And what does the Bible say?" Turn in your Bibles to Luke 13.

  01:22-01:47

  The title of the message is "A Biblical Response to Tragedy." As I'm sure everyone knows by now, last Sunday in Orlando, American-born Omar Mateen, after pledging allegiance to ISIS, There were 49 people in a gay nightclub.

  01:49-01:53

  And if you've been following this on the news, there are so many theories that abound.

  01:55-02:02

  Some say that he had seen two men kissing and that sent him over the edge.

  02:03-02:05

  Some say that he was bipolar.

  02:08-02:10

  There's reports that he was already being watched by the FBI.

  02:13-02:15

  I'd say it was purely an ISIS attack.

  02:17-02:27

  But at the end of the day, it was an unthinkable act that leaves more questions than just the attacker's motives.

  02:29-02:31

  Questions like why do these things happen?

  02:33-02:35

  Why do these things keep happening?

  02:38-02:40

  How could God allow something like this?

  02:42-02:45

  How could we possibly prevent something like this?

  02:47-02:53

  What can we do in the fallout of such a horrific event?

  02:56-03:06

  One of the most important questions, if not the most important question that we can ask ourselves is this, what would Jesus say about such a tragedy?

  03:08-03:13

  And incredibly, in your Bible, There's a parallel incident mentioned.

  03:14-03:15

  Look at Luke 13.

  03:15-03:17

  Are you there? Look at verse 1.

  03:18-03:20

  This is right in the middle of Jesus preaching.

  03:22-03:24

  And He was interrupted.

  03:27-03:45

  It says, "There were some present at that very time who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices." I don't have a lot of details of this event, but it's a horrific scene.

  03:47-03:50

  Some Jews from Galilee were worshipping.

  03:50-03:53

  They were in the temple offering sacrifices.

  03:53-04:04

  It must have been Passover because that was the only sacrifice where the worshiper actually had his hands in offering the animal and slaughtering the animal.

  04:07-04:17

  Conscious pilots sent a squad of soldiers in to slaughter them while they were worshiping in the temple.

  04:20-04:35

  And the event was so gory, so graphically violent, that it's described as their blood mixed with the blood of the animals that they were sacrificing.

  04:37-04:43

  under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that's a very classy way of describing how gory the event was.

  04:45-04:50

  It would be like in our day if we're taking the Lord's Supper as we do regularly.

  04:50-05:11

  It would be like in our day if we're taking the Lord's Supper and the tray comes around and you reach in to grab that little cup of juice and somebody comes into the school and start shooting to the point that we're bleeding into the communion cups.

  05:11-05:22

  And the police would describe it as - and the media would describe it as - it was such a bloody scene that the church members' blood was mixed with the communion juice.

  05:23-05:25

  That's the kind of scene that's being described here.

  05:25-05:29

  That these people's blood was mixed with the animals' blood.

  05:29-05:31

  This was such a gory event.

  05:34-05:38

  So, while Jesus was preaching, some people interrupted Him.

  05:40-05:47

  And it says they told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

  05:51-05:56

  And they weren't telling Jesus - for your information, I don't know if you've heard the news lately, but did you hear this was happening?

  05:57-05:59

  Jesus knew what was happening.

  06:01-06:06

  They mentioned this to Jesus because they wanted to hear what He had to say about something like that.

  06:08-06:12

  But before we go on the text, I want to tell you some things that Jesus didn't say.

  06:15-06:18

  Jesus didn't talk about the weapons involved.

  06:20-06:22

  Jesus wasn't pro-sword.

  06:23-06:28

  To say, you know, this wouldn't have happened if all of those Galileans had a sword on them, wouldn't have happened.

  06:28-06:34

  And we need to make sure that every Galilean is equipped with a sword and trained with a sword so that they can defend themselves.

  06:35-06:36

  Jesus didn't say that.

  06:37-06:40

  Jesus didn't call for sword control.

  06:41-06:47

  To say, you know, this stuff wouldn't happen if the government regulated the swords.

  06:48-06:52

  Jesus didn't say, you know, these people had swords.

  06:52-06:55

  Some of them were 30 inches in length.

  06:55-06:58

  And there's no reason anybody needs a sword that long.

  07:01-07:11

  Wherever you stand on the gun control issue, on Second Amendment rights and all of those things, wherever you stand on that, I want you to see that Jesus didn't say anything about the weapons.

  07:11-07:14

  Nothing about the weapons.

  07:15-07:20

  Nor did Jesus denounce pilots.

  07:23-07:30

  Jesus didn't say, "The government's the problem." Pilate isn't even an Israelite.

  07:30-07:31

  Pilate is an idiot.

  07:34-07:38

  The government is responsible for these senseless massacres.

  07:38-07:40

  Jesus said nothing about Pilate.

  07:40-07:41

  Nothing about the government.

  07:44-07:47

  Jesus didn't denounce the worshippers either.

  07:49-07:51

  Jesus didn't say, "Well, you know Galileans.

  07:51-07:52

  You know how those people can be.

  07:53-07:54

  You know what I mean about Galileans?

  07:55-07:56

  You know what those people were like.

  07:58-08:02

  That maybe if they didn't act like such, these kinds of things wouldn't happen to them.

  08:02-08:04

  Jesus said nothing about that.

  08:07-08:12

  And again, these people that brought this issue up to Jesus, they didn't even ask a question.

  08:14-08:16

  But Jesus knew the question that they were thinking.

  08:18-08:21

  The question is this, What did these people do to deserve this?

  08:21-08:28

  What did these Galileans do to deserve being slaughtered while they're worshiping?

  08:30-08:32

  I mean, everyone dies. We know that.

  08:32-08:34

  But to die like this?

  08:35-08:36

  What's wrong with this picture?

  08:37-08:40

  How could something like this even happen?

  08:40-08:45

  And in light of the shooting in Orlando last week, we're asking the same question right now.

  08:49-08:56

  When we look at Jesus' response, I want you to understand that we're a little detached, because this is an event that happened 2,000 years ago.

  08:57-08:59

  This is an event that happened on the other side of the planets.

  09:01-09:08

  But you have to understand as we look at this event, this was to them what Orlando is to us today.

  09:09-09:14

  A senseless massacre that happens that leaves us asking questions.

  09:18-09:21

  Can we agree as we go through this text that these are parallel accounts?

  09:24-09:35

  In both scenarios, you have a wicked madman going into a place with innocent, vulnerable, and unsuspecting people and cutting them down where they stand.

  09:35-09:38

  Can you see with me that these are parallel events?

  09:39-09:42

  This was Orlando in Jesus' day.

  09:45-09:52

  And if you can agree with me that these are parallel events, I think you would also agree with me that we should examine how Jesus reacted.

  09:52-09:53

  Look at verse 2.

  09:53-10:03

  It says, "And He answered them, 'Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?

  10:05-10:07

  No, I tell you.

  10:08-10:15

  But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.'" What?

  10:17-10:21

  Doesn't Jesus' response seem a little off?

  10:24-10:29

  Doesn't Jesus' response seem a little insensitive?

  10:31-10:33

  Doesn't Jesus' response seem a little harsh, can we be honest?

  10:36-10:38

  Amazingly Jesus doesn't stop there.

  10:38-10:39

  Look at verse 4.

  10:40-10:50

  Jesus said, "Are those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

  10:50-10:51

  No, I tell you.

  10:51-10:55

  But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

  10:58-11:00

  Jesus brings up another event that they all would have known about.

  11:02-11:06

  This was an accident at a construction site.

  11:07-11:11

  There was a lot of building happening in Jerusalem in Jesus' day.

  11:11-11:18

  And they were building this tower and this section of Jerusalem, while they were building it, the tower collapsed.

  11:18-11:21

  Eighteen innocent people just in the area.

  11:21-11:24

  The tower collapsed and crushed them.

  11:26-11:27

  Jesus brought that up.

  11:29-11:46

  He said, "What do you think about this incident?" Well, these types of events, whether it's accident, or natural disaster, or mass shooting, or bombs.

  11:47-11:54

  These types of events are increasing in severity and in frequency.

  11:58-12:00

  April 20th, 1999, you remember Columbine?

  12:02-12:06

  Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher.

  12:07-12:10

  September 11th, 2001, the terrorist attacks.

  12:12-12:15

  2,996 people.

  12:17-12:21

  We don't have to look back that far to put a list together, do we?

  12:24-12:27

  What about July 20, 2012, Aurora, Colorado?

  12:27-12:34

  James Holmes walks into a movie theater where people are watching the new Batman movie and kills 12 people.

  12:36-12:39

  December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook in Connecticut.

  12:40-12:50

  Adam Lanza kills 20 children, six and seven-year-olds, and six staff members.

  12:53-12:55

  What about April 15, 2013?

  12:55-13:04

  The Tsarnaev brothers, with two bombs, set them off at the finish line at the Boston Marathon, killed three people, and injured 264.

  13:05-13:07

  What about December 2nd?

  13:07-13:15

  Last December 2nd, San Bernardino, California, at the Inland Regional Center, a husband and wife tandem killed 14 people.

  13:18-13:26

  And as I was looking these things up, I gotta be honest with you, church, I was ashamed of myself at all of these ones that I forgot about.

  13:26-13:31

  I was reading through the list and I, remember the black church in Charleston?

  13:33-13:34

  Remember Fort Hood?

  13:34-13:35

  Remember Washington, D.C.?

  13:35-13:38

  Remember Oklahoma City bombings? I'm reading through these.

  13:40-13:45

  These events are happening in increasing severity, increasing frequency.

  13:48-13:49

  We need to be prepared.

  13:51-13:54

  How long do you think it's going to be before something like this happens in the Pittsburgh area?

  13:56-13:57

  How long do you think it's going to be?

  13:59-14:02

  At a sporting event? At a parade?

  14:05-14:06

  How long until that happens here?

  14:08-14:13

  We're impacted by these events happening in California, Connecticut, and Florida.

  14:13-14:15

  What are you going to do when it happens here?

  14:17-14:21

  That's where your outline - I want you to jot some things down and I want you to think biblically.

  14:22-14:24

  This is how to view a tragedy according to Jesus.

  14:27-14:28

  First of all, you're going to jot this down.

  14:29-14:32

  Jesus making an obvious point, first of all, number one, tragedy can happen to anyone.

  14:34-14:35

  The same tragedy can happen to anyone.

  14:35-14:40

  I think the first thing that Jesus points out, the first thing He mentions is very interesting.

  14:40-14:53

  He says, "Do you think that those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?" That's an interesting question to pose.

  14:53-14:54

  Why did Jesus say that?

  14:55-15:08

  Because Jewish theology taught - this isn't right theology, this is just something that Jewish people had sort of adopted and embraced - Jewish theology was, bad things happen to bad people.

  15:09-15:11

  And good things happen to good people.

  15:12-15:12

  Right?

  15:13-15:16

  If something bad happens to you, obviously you're not living right.

  15:17-15:23

  And if some blessing happens to you, it's like, wow, you must be doing something right because God is smiling upon you.

  15:23-15:25

  That was Jewish theology.

  15:26-15:28

  Bad stuff happens to bad people.

  15:28-15:29

  Good stuff happens to good people.

  15:30-15:32

  You see this actually in John 9.

  15:32-15:35

  We're not going to turn there, Remember John 9.

  15:35-15:39

  Jesus and the disciples are walking by and they see a man that was blind.

  15:40-15:42

  You remember what the disciples asked Jesus?

  15:42-15:45

  They said, "Who sinned that this man was born blind?

  15:45-15:50

  Was it him or was it his parents?" That was their thinking.

  15:50-15:56

  Obviously, somebody did something wrong that God struck this guy with a curse.

  15:57-16:00

  So Jesus, who was in the wrong here?

  16:00-16:04

  And Jesus said, "It wasn't him or his parents." You can read that account.

  16:05-16:09

  But I want you to see that that was immediately what the disciples went to.

  16:09-16:10

  Who did something wrong here?

  16:12-16:17

  And we still sort of think that way today.

  16:19-16:22

  A lot of people think that way today.

  16:24-16:25

  ISIS applauds the massacre.

  16:27-16:31

  I read something this week - I'm going to share part of it with you, but it absolutely disgusted me.

  16:33-16:35

  There was a pastor in Sacramento, California.

  16:35-16:42

  Pastor Roger Jimenez gave a sermon in response to this massacre.

  16:43-16:54

  He delivered a sermon in which he expressed "support for the tragedy." This pastor got up in front of his church and he said to them, "You don't mourn the death of them.

  16:54-16:55

  They deserve what they got.

  16:58-17:11

  You reap what you sow." Jimenez went as far as comparing the homosexual victims of the shootings to pedophiles and told his congregation they do not need to mourn the loss of the deceased.

  17:12-17:18

  "Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?" Jimenez asked in the sermon, which was later uploaded to YouTube.

  17:20-17:24

  "No." Again, this is a quote from the pastor from his sermon.

  17:24-17:25

  He said, "I think that's great.

  17:26-17:27

  I think that helps society.

  17:27-17:30

  I think Orlando, Florida is a little safer tonight.

  17:31-17:33

  The tragedy is that more of them didn't die.

  17:34-17:41

  The tragedy is I'm kind of upset he didn't finish the job because these people are predators.

  17:43-17:59

  This pastor - and I use the word "pastor" very loosely here, obviously - this pastor continued in his sermon by saying he believes "the government should round them all up and kill members of the gay community." This is wicked thinking.

  18:01-18:03

  This is exactly what Jesus was pointing out.

  18:05-18:07

  Were these Galileans worse than anybody else?

  18:08-18:08

  Jesus said no.

  18:09-18:16

  And I ask you, those patrons in that nightclub in Orlando, were they worse sinners than anyone else?

  18:18-18:20

  How would Jesus answer that?

  18:22-18:24

  Were those patrons worse than anybody else?

  18:27-18:30

  And some would say, "But Pastor Jeff, They were homosexuals.

  18:31-18:33

  Isn't that a sin?

  18:33-18:46

  Well, the fact that these people are gay in this nightclub, that should not make us more outraged at the massacre.

  18:46-18:50

  And it should not make us less outraged at the massacre.

  18:51-18:55

  The fact that that was their sin is completely irrelevant.

  18:57-18:59

  Do you think their sin is worse than your sin?

  19:00-19:01

  Is that what you're saying?

  19:03-19:06

  Do you think because their sin was homosexuality, that's worse than your sin of blotting?

  19:07-19:09

  That's worse than your sin of lying?

  19:09-19:11

  That's worse than your sin of gossiping?

  19:12-19:13

  Are they worse sinners than you?

  19:14-19:16

  Are they worse sinners than me?

  19:16-19:18

  How would Jesus answer that question?

  19:18-19:19

  Tell me.

  19:20-19:20

  Say it.

  19:21-19:24

  Were those gay patrons in that nightclub, were they worse sinners than me?

  19:25-19:25

  No.

  19:27-19:27

  or not.

  19:30-19:37

  And Jesus says, "No, but I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." All.

  19:39-19:43

  All. Tragic death does not happen to just the worst people.

  19:44-19:48

  Jesus was pointing out, hey, you think just because you're alive today, you think you're better than them?

  19:49-19:54

  You think that because they were bad people that God struck them down and you're a good person so God lets you live?

  19:57-19:57

  Wow.

  19:58-19:59

  The truth is tragedy happens to everyone.

  20:01-20:11

  Whether it's a shooting, whether it's a bomb, terrorist attack, wildfire or flood, earthquake, tsunami.

  20:14-20:14

  What about cancer?

  20:16-20:17

  What about a motorcycle accident?

  20:19-20:20

  Tragedy happens to everyone.

  20:21-20:26

  All of these things are tragedy because death is such a bitter event.

  20:28-20:44

  You need to know that whether it's this event with Pilate and these Galileans, whether it's Orlando, whether it's 9/11, whether it's the Boston Marathon, these kinds of things can happen to anyone because that's the kind of fallen world that we live in.

  20:45-20:46

  Okay?

  20:46-20:49

  So let's dispose of the idea as Jesus very quickly did.

  20:49-20:54

  Let's dispose of the idea that bad stuff happened to them because they're bad people.

  20:54-20:57

  Because the truth is, by nature, we're all bad people.

  20:59-21:01

  The only goodness we have is from Jesus Christ.

  21:03-21:09

  Let's get rid of this, "they got what they deserve, they were bad people." Absolutely not.

  21:11-21:17

  They are people in need of God's grace and God's love as much as me and as much as you.

  21:18-21:21

  Because their sin looks a little different than yours and make them worse.

  21:23-21:24

  Tragedy can happen to anyone.

  21:24-21:27

  Secondly, tragedy is always unexpected.

  21:27-21:33

  This is obvious not just from the text, but from experience, right?

  21:34-21:42

  Jesus said, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." I want to talk about those words - likewise perish.

  21:43-21:45

  What was Jesus saying here?

  21:45-21:51

  By saying likewise, was Jesus saying that unless you repent, Are we going to die in a mass tragedy?

  21:54-21:54

  Of course not.

  21:56-22:00

  But I want you to see that Jesus took us to a whole other scenario.

  22:02-22:05

  Here you have Galileans that were intentionally murdered by someone.

  22:06-22:11

  But then Jesus brings up a completely different type of scenario. Why?

  22:11-22:16

  Because the thing with the tower falling, that was just pure what we call accident.

  22:17-22:19

  It wasn't a premeditated attack.

  22:20-22:25

  That was just wrong place at the wrong time.

  22:25-22:28

  Like, how in the world did that happen kind of thing.

  22:29-22:40

  But Jesus is pointing out that whether it's by murder, or whether it's by accident, both cases have this common denominator.

  22:40-22:42

  They were unexpected events.

  22:44-22:46

  We live in a day with social media.

  22:47-22:50

  You can get on Facebook and see everything that's happening right now.

  22:51-22:54

  You can watch a video with natural disasters.

  22:54-22:57

  You can be watching these fires in California.

  22:58-23:05

  I read on a Friday morning, they said overnight, Thursday night, those fires in California doubled to 4,000 acres.

  23:07-23:16

  You can get on your computer, you can get on your phone right now, don't do it, but you can get on your phone right now You can watch videos of a tragedy happening on the other side of the country.

  23:19-23:25

  You can get on social media and you can watch videos of ISIS murdering Christians.

  23:27-23:29

  Those videos pop up from time to time.

  23:29-23:33

  You see whether it's drowning, whether it's beheading, whether it's shooting them in the street.

  23:33-23:35

  You can watch that happen.

  23:36-23:36

  Think about that.

  23:36-23:40

  You can watch that happen Even on your couch.

  23:43-23:44

  Through social media.

  23:45-23:50

  Through the day of mass information, you can watch every instance of police brutality.

  23:52-24:01

  You won't see very much of the millions of daily police interactions with citizens where police are protecting and serving.

  24:02-24:07

  But somewhere, somewhere in some town, there's one act of police brutality which is wrong.

  24:08-24:13

  And you can watch that from the comfort of your couch.

  24:15-24:21

  And despite this mass information and this access we have, we're always shocked.

  24:24-24:28

  Maybe even becoming a little more desensitized because these things are happening so often.

  24:30-24:34

  How many people remember when the Columbine shootings happened?

  24:34-24:35

  How many people remember that?

  24:35-24:35

  Raise your hand.

  24:35-24:36

  Do you remember when that happened?

  24:36-24:38

  Do you remember where you were and what you were doing?

  24:38-24:40

  I remember clearly.

  24:41-24:54

  It was a month before graduation at Bible College, and I remember I was sitting in my car on campus and listening to them talk about it on the radio, hearing this news breaking.

  24:55-24:58

  I remember sitting in my car just completely horrified.

  25:00-25:02

  How in the world can something like this happen?

  25:03-25:04

  How can something like this happen in America?

  25:06-25:08

  It's a school. It doesn't make any sense.

  25:11-25:16

  We see with both of these scenarios that Jesus was talking about, the tragedy was unexpected.

  25:17-25:19

  You can't ever plan for a terrorist attack.

  25:20-25:24

  And I know there's people out there gathering intelligence and making predictions.

  25:27-25:33

  We should be praying that they're able to prevent more of them, but the truth is, they're not going to prevent all of them.

  25:36-25:47

  We can't ever plan for accidental tragedy like the tower falling and crushing 18 people in Jesus' day, or a bridge collapsing in our day.

  25:49-25:50

  The common denominator.

  25:51-25:52

  These people weren't ready.

  25:53-25:58

  You think these Galileans walked into worship thinking this is my last act on the earth?

  25:59-26:03

  You think that there's people walking by the tower in Siloam?

  26:03-26:07

  You think that they thought for a second on the last day on the earth?

  26:08-26:14

  Do you think that these patrons of the nightclub in Orlando knew this was the last thing they were ever going to do?

  26:16-26:17

  Of course not. It's always unexpected.

  26:20-26:23

  A tragedy can happen to anyone.

  26:24-26:24

  It's always unexpected.

  26:26-26:28

  Here's the real point that Jesus is driving to.

  26:30-26:32

  This is the point that Jesus is making.

  26:33-26:40

  Chapter 3, "Tragedy is a wake-up call for the living." See, the first two points are sort of FYI.

  26:41-26:47

  We sort of know these things and Jesus was sort of pointing out these things, but this is the heart of the matter.

  26:50-26:52

  Tragedy is a wake-up call for the living.

  26:54-27:03

  In Ecclesiastes 7.2, Solomon says, "It is better to go into the house of mourning into the house of feasting.

  27:04-27:11

  For this is the end of all mankind and the living will lay it to heart." What Solomon is saying is it's better to go to a funeral than to a party.

  27:12-27:19

  Because at a funeral, you're face to face with man's mortality and you naturally start thinking of your own.

  27:22-27:25

  And that's the spirit behind Jesus' words here.

  27:25-27:27

  This is a wake-up call for the living.

  27:30-27:31

  Everyone.

  27:33-27:35

  Everyone is on borrowed time.

  27:36-27:40

  In fact, that's the point of the very next parable Jesus tells.

  27:40-27:41

  We're going to look at it very quickly.

  27:41-27:45

  We could spend a whole sermon on this, but I just want you to look at this next parable.

  27:45-27:46

  Look down at verse 6.

  27:46-27:49

  As Jesus is driving home this point, listen, you're on borrowed time.

  27:50-27:51

  You're on borrowed time.

  27:53-27:58

  Whether you're sitting here today, you're ten or you're much older than ten.

  27:59-27:59

  and borrowed time.

  28:02-28:05

  And he told this parable - again, it's context, right?

  28:06-28:11

  He says, "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

  28:12-28:19

  And he said to the vine dresser, 'Look, for three years now, I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none.

  28:19-28:20

  Cut it down.

  28:21-28:32

  Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, I'll let it alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure.

  28:35-28:40

  Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.

  28:42-28:43

  The parable says a lot.

  28:45-28:48

  But the main point - you're on borrowed time.

  28:49-28:50

  You're like that tree.

  28:52-28:57

  If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, You have not repented.

  28:57-28:58

  We're going to talk about that in a second.

  28:59-29:01

  You need to know this.

  29:02-29:07

  Judgment delayed does not mean judgment delayed indefinitely.

  29:08-29:19

  See, just because if you're sitting here today and you don't know Christ, just because you get to experience patience and grace and opportunity now, doesn't mean that that's going to last forever.

  29:21-29:23

  Jesus' words are a little shocking.

  29:25-29:28

  We can think biblically for a second.

  29:28-29:29

  Think biblically.

  29:31-29:33

  The truth is we can't do anything for the dead.

  29:35-29:36

  I don't say that coldly.

  29:38-29:40

  Being a pastor, I've been to more funerals than you.

  29:42-29:45

  And oh, how I wish that I could do something for the dead.

  29:47-30:00

  As you sit in that funeral home and the family and friends are weeping, and you're sitting down and talking with them about this person, and they just wish they had one more day, just wish they had one more conversation.

  30:00-30:09

  I wish, I wish that I could bring that person back and say, "Here you go. Enjoy some more time together." I wish I could do that.

  30:11-30:11

  But I can't.

  30:13-30:15

  I can't do anything for the deceased.

  30:17-30:19

  That's the point that Jesus is driving home.

  30:20-30:23

  You only have a limited amount of time on this earth.

  30:24-30:29

  And that's limited opportunity to get things straight with your Creator.

  30:31-30:38

  To receive the resources, to receive the gift of eternal life that He offers through Jesus Christ.

  30:38-30:41

  You only have a little bit of opportunity to do that.

  30:42-30:43

  Because you're on borrowed time.

  30:44-30:44

  You're like that fig tree.

  30:47-30:51

  The message that Jesus was giving of the living.

  30:53-31:03

  He says, "Unless you repent, you will likewise perish." Now when Jesus was talking about perishing, He was obviously talking about more than physical death.

  31:05-31:06

  The point is you have to be ready.

  31:08-31:09

  Everyone dies.

  31:09-31:14

  And even the people who survived the shooting in Orlando are someday going to die.

  31:14-31:14

  True or false?

  31:15-31:18

  The people that made it out of that nightclub, someday, they're going to die.

  31:19-31:25

  Maybe somebody is going to live to be 120 years old and die peacefully with their family by their bedside.

  31:25-31:26

  I don't know.

  31:27-31:30

  But I know that every one of those survivors are eventually going to die.

  31:32-31:34

  Jesus' point is you have to be ready.

  31:36-31:42

  Because the true tragedy is dying and facing judgment.

  31:43-31:44

  The issue is not how you die.

  31:46-31:48

  The issue is dying without repenting.

  31:48-31:49

  That's the issue.

  31:51-32:02

  You see, these people who died in the temple where the tower fell and in Orlando, their end was horrible because they weren't ready.

  32:05-32:10

  And Jesus is pointing out here, message for the living, you can be ready for death.

  32:11-32:12

  You can be ready.

  32:14-32:15

  You want to be ready for death?

  32:17-32:21

  Jesus sums up the preparedness plan with one word.

  32:22-32:25

  And the word is "repent." He says you need to repent.

  32:25-32:27

  Repent means you change your mind.

  32:28-32:29

  Change your mind about what?

  32:29-32:30

  Change your mind about everything.

  32:31-32:33

  Because by nature, we think, I'm not that bad.

  32:35-32:37

  I don't really need God in my life.

  32:37-32:37

  I'm okay.

  32:38-32:39

  I'm not that bad of a sinner.

  32:42-32:43

  Repentance means you change your mind.

  32:43-32:45

  You see your sin as God sees it.

  32:45-32:46

  I'm a miserable sinner.

  32:47-32:50

  My sins are not just little mistakes.

  32:50-32:53

  They are rebellion against a holy God.

  32:54-33:01

  I have by nature and by choice rebelled against and I have rejected the God Who created me.

  33:03-33:05

  Repentance - changing your mind.

  33:06-33:07

  I need God.

  33:08-33:09

  I was made for Him.

  33:11-33:13

  He's not there for me.

  33:13-33:14

  I'm here for Him.

  33:14-33:18

  He created me and He provided salvation through His Son.

  33:21-33:25

  I didn't think Jesus needed to be the number one thing in my life.

  33:26-33:30

  Repentance is I realize now Jesus has to be everything because He's my very life.

  33:31-33:31

  That's repentance.

  33:33-33:35

  It's a 180 turn by nature.

  33:35-33:39

  We're walking in our sin and we're walking away from God.

  33:40-33:41

  Repentance just means you do a 180.

  33:42-33:45

  I'm walking away from my sin I'm running towards God.

  33:45-33:47

  I'm embracing the gift of salvation.

  33:48-33:49

  He gives.

  33:51-33:53

  So you want to be ready to die?

  33:54-33:56

  Jesus says you need to repent.

  33:58-34:05

  Because the glorious truth is if you do repent, if you do repent, you will not perish.

  34:08-34:10

  Pastor Jeff, do you have a verse for that?

  34:11-34:13

  The most well-known verse in the entire Bible, right?

  34:14-34:25

  3.16, say it with me, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." Whoever believes in the Son will not perish.

  34:25-34:29

  That's your preparedness plan.

  34:31-34:32

  Tragedy is a wake-up call for the living.

  34:34-34:43

  And then finally, today, tragedy is a reminder to the church for urgency.

  34:44-34:47

  Tragedy is a reminder to the church for urgency.

  34:50-34:57

  Everyone, as we said, as Jesus pointed out, as we know to be true, everyone is on the way to death.

  34:59-35:00

  As the point of the man wants to die.

  35:03-35:04

  Now, you know that.

  35:04-35:06

  Let me ask you this this morning, church.

  35:08-35:09

  Do you feel that?

  35:12-35:13

  You know that everybody's going to die.

  35:16-35:31

  Your mom, your neighbor, your co-worker, every single person you know is living on borrowed time.

  35:34-35:34

  You know that.

  35:36-35:37

  Do you feel that?

  35:39-35:40

  Do you feel that?

  35:43-35:52

  How many of those people in the Orlando shooting stepped into eternity not knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?

  35:53-35:54

  I don't have an answer for that.

  35:54-35:55

  Only God knows.

  35:57-36:03

  But how many of those people stepped into eternity not knowing Christ?

  36:04-36:05

  Does that bother you?

  36:07-36:07

  Does it break your heart?

  36:09-36:17

  You turn on the TV, there's constantly commercials about quitting smoking and heart disease.

  36:17-36:25

  And there's a commercial for every type of drug, whether it's cholesterol or whatever.

  36:25-36:37

  So much time and effort and money and energy and resources is put into getting the word out about these diseases only kill the physical body?

  36:39-36:47

  How much more effort should we as a church be expending knowing that the Gospel and the Gospel alone carries eternal consequences?

  36:51-36:59

  Isn't it ironic in our day, in our fallen world, that we as a church have the only life-saving message and the world wants to shut us up?

  37:00-37:03

  Do you understand that we're the only people that can really help.

  37:05-37:06

  The message of Jesus Christ.

  37:06-37:07

  We have that.

  37:09-37:10

  And the world wants to shut us up.

  37:12-37:16

  In the wake of this shooting in Orlando, did you hear about Chick-fil-A?

  37:17-37:18

  How many people heard about Chick-fil-A?

  37:19-37:30

  For those of you that didn't, the Chick-fil-A at the Orlando location at University and Rouse Road on Sunday, quietly, fired up the grills.

  37:32-37:34

  It's a big deal because you know Chick-fil-A is not open on Sunday.

  37:36-37:59

  Employees cooked up hundreds of sandwiches, they brewed dozens of gallons of their tea, and instead of making a single dime, they took these sandwiches and the tea to the line of people for the One Blood Donation Center that were lined up to donate blood.

  38:00-38:15

  The article says, "The food and drinks were handed out free of charge to all the people who lined up to donate blood." Then this article sarcastically says, "But wait, those people were waiting to give blood to victims that were mostly gay people.

  38:15-38:20

  Doesn't Chick-fil-A hate gays?" That's what we keep being told.

  38:23-38:27

  And the article goes on, "A bunch of people claiming to be Christians care about others even when they don't agree with them.

  38:30-38:44

  And then another franchise on Wells Road in Orange Park says that they were offering coupons for a free frosted lemonade to anyone who donates blood when the One Blood Mobile unit is at their store on June 14.

  38:46-38:54

  The thing I found so fascinating about that article, you remember the CEO of Chick-fil-A says that he believes in biblical marriage.

  38:54-38:56

  That was all over every form of media.

  38:56-39:01

  That was on every website, every news, local, cable.

  39:01-39:03

  It was everywhere.

  39:05-39:07

  When somebody said they believed in biblical marriage.

  39:10-39:21

  But when Chick-fil-A reaches out with an act of compassion, without fanfare, without trying to get media's attention, how much coverage did this act get?

  39:23-39:27

  If your Christian friends didn't share this article on Facebook, you would not have heard about it.

  39:30-39:33

  My encouragement to you church is to take note and follow the example.

  39:35-39:37

  Take note and follow the example.

  39:37-39:44

  Your co-workers, your family, your friends that don't know Christ, they are one step away.

  39:45-39:51

  They are one more terrible tragedy away and ushered into a godless eternity.

  39:53-39:55

  So this should be a call for urgency for the church.

  39:56-40:01

  Those people in your life that don't know Christ, you need to get them here to hear the Gospel.

  40:02-40:10

  You need to get involved in a small group in this church that gets out into the community to share the love of Jesus Christ with this community.

  40:13-40:14

  You're on borrowed time too.

  40:16-40:20

  You need to use what time you have left to impact eternity.

  40:22-40:27

  We shouldn't be walking away from this event going that's a shame.

  40:28-40:33

  We shouldn't be walking away from this event going I'm glad that didn't happen in Pittsburgh.

  40:33-40:41

  We should be looking at this event saying this is urgency for the Gospel because this could happen here today.

  40:45-40:50

  Jesus, what do you think about 9/11?

  40:51-40:53

  So Jesus, what do you think about Columbine?

  40:54-40:56

  So Jesus, what do you think about Sandy Hook?

  40:56-40:59

  So Jesus, what do you think about this shooting in Orlando?

  41:00-41:02

  I can tell you exactly what Jesus would say.

  41:03-41:06

  He would say those victims aren't worse sinners.

  41:09-41:14

  You need to get urgent about your own life, because unless you repent, you will likewise perish.

  41:16-41:17

  It's a warning to the world.

  41:19-41:23

  It's an urgent reminder for us as a church to go after the mission.

  41:27-41:34

  Father in Heaven, Father in Heaven, give us hearts of compassion.

  41:36-41:40

  Your Word tells us that You do not delight the death of the wicked.

  41:43-41:46

  Your Word tells us that you wish that none would perish.

  41:48-41:51

  Your Word tells us that you now command all men everywhere to repent.

  41:54-41:55

  Father, I pray for this church.

  41:57-42:02

  It's really easy for us to point a finger at a pastor in California that said some stupid remarks.

  42:04-42:10

  It's really easy to point a finger and other Christians and other ministries.

  42:12-42:14

  We need to look at ourselves.

  42:16-42:21

  And I pray, Father, first of all, for any here that don't know Christ, I pray that this is their wake-up call.

  42:23-42:24

  To pray.

  42:25-42:28

  To cry out over the condition of their own soul.

  42:30-42:36

  Father, for those of us who do know You, that You would give us a heart of compassion.

  42:39-42:50

  I pray, Father, that right now You are preparing us to rightly handle this when it happens in the Pittsburgh area.

  42:51-42:57

  What would we do if a gentleman's club gets shot up?

  43:00-43:01

  What would we do?

  43:05-43:10

  Father, let us be people who reach out in love and in grace.

  43:12-43:15

  Father, restore urgency and compassion in us.

  43:18-43:39

  We pray, Father - right now we pray for all of the ministries and churches in Orlando that are rallying around the survivors, rallying around the family and friends of the deceased, I pray God that you would glorify your name and manifest your presence through them in a powerful way.

  43:42-43:44

  I thank you, Father, for your Word.

  43:45-43:50

  How clear it is that we don't have to wonder what your Son would say about such an event.

  43:52-43:54

  May we all take it to heart, Father.

  43:55-44:32

  Jesus this is pastor Jeff Miller and I would like to personally thank you for listening if this ministry has been a blessing to you please consider making a donation it is through the support from God's people like you that we are able to make the ministry of harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh north available to everyone through our website if you would like to make a donation you can do so at harvest Pittsburgh north And be sure to be back here next week as we continue to dig deep into God's Word.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Luke 13:1-5

1. What do you typically say when people ask your opinion about events like the shooting in Orlando?

2. How did Jesus respond when asked about a similar massacre (Luke 13:1-3)? Why did He also mention the "tower in Siloam" incident (Luke 13:4)? Why is His response to the tower scene exactly the same as the Pilate scene (compare Luke 13:3 and Luke 13:5)?

3. *Imagine a similar tragedy happening in the Pittsburgh area. For discussion's sake, let's say a "gentlemen's club" downtown experiences a shooting that kills many people. Describe specifically how we as a church should respond. 

Breakout Questions:

1. Personally and as a small group, what should your response be to tragedy, according to Jesus? Have a plan now for when it happens!

Power and Sovereignty.

Review:

Listen to Incomparably Sovereign

When I believe God is sovereign...

1. I believe He uses trials for Good! (Acts 8:1-4)



Review: Gal 4:13 | Phil 1:12

Suffering is a vehicle to witness!!



2. I believe He can save Anyone! (Acts 8:1, 3)



3. I believe He has Work for me to do. (Acts 8:5-8)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Power and Witness - Power and Sovereignty

Jeff Miller

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• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:01

  Put up your Bibles with me.

  00:03-00:05

  We're going to be in Acts 8.

  00:06-00:10

  Acts 8, we're going to be picking up in the first verse.

  00:11-00:15

  And let's just pause and pray as we turn our hearts to God's Word.

  00:16-00:19

  Father, just now we were about to turn to Your Word.

  00:20-00:30

  And we are going to be talking about in some very personal and emotional matters.

  00:32-00:37

  We're going to be talking about an area, Father, that I know that I certainly need to grow and mature.

  00:39-00:46

  I'm sure I have some brothers and sisters here today who would say this is an area where they need to grow and mature.

  00:47-00:54

  So I pray, Father, that You would engage our hearts in this subject, but I also pray that You would engage our minds.

  00:55-01:02

  I pray, Father, that this theology that we discussed doesn't become some academic exercise that was interesting.

  01:02-01:04

  And here's a couple of things I learned at church.

  01:05-01:17

  I pray, Father, that this theology would lead us to know and understand You in a deeper, greater way.

  01:19-01:27

  If we can gaze upon your beauty, we might understand the way that you interact with man.

  01:29-01:31

  We ask your Holy Spirit be our Teacher.

  01:31-01:34

  I don't have it in me.

  01:36-01:37

  I don't have the words.

  01:39-01:42

  It has to be Your Word, and it has to be the power of Your Spirit.

  01:42-01:44

  Father, that's what we ask for right now.

  01:47-01:48

  Engage us with Your truth.

  01:50-01:51

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  01:52-01:55

  For all of God's people said, Amen.

  01:56-01:57

  Acts chapter 8, are you there?

  01:59-02:04

  We have been talking for the past few weeks about a man named Stephen.

  02:06-02:12

  If you recall, Stephen was a minister in the church.

  02:13-02:23

  certain Hellenistic Jews when they couldn't debate well with Stephen, they spread some false rumors about him accusing him of blasphemy.

  02:23-02:28

  And Stephen was put on trial for the council.

  02:30-02:32

  And remember, we saw Stephen's sermon.

  02:32-02:36

  He said to the religious leaders of his day, "You're just like your ancestors.

  02:36-02:40

  You rebel against God and you reject everyone that God sends.

  02:42-02:46

  and now God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and you've rejected Him too.

  02:48-02:51

  Furious, they dragged Stephen out of the city.

  02:52-02:53

  We saw this last week.

  02:53-02:55

  They stoned him.

  02:55-02:57

  This was not a legal execution.

  02:58-02:59

  This was a mob attack.

  03:01-03:07

  This passage in Acts 8 is beginning a shift in the book of Acts.

  03:07-03:11

  A shift that results from the fallout about Stephen's murder.

  03:13-03:18

  Now, we are so blessed to have God's Word because we have God's perspective on the event.

  03:19-03:29

  But could you imagine if we didn't have God's Word on the event, but we just had a secular, historical account of what happened that day?

  03:30-03:37

  I'm sure today we would be sitting around talking about Stephen's death using a certain word.

  03:39-03:40

  Pointless.

  03:41-03:42

  It was a pointless death.

  03:43-03:44

  I mean, think about Stephen.

  03:44-03:48

  He had literally everything going for him.

  03:49-03:50

  He was a leader in the church.

  03:50-03:52

  He was respected in the church.

  03:52-03:53

  He was this young man.

  03:53-03:55

  He was angel-faced.

  03:56-03:57

  And a great speaker.

  03:57-03:58

  He knew his Old Testament.

  03:58-04:01

  He knew the Scriptures frontwards and backwards.

  04:03-04:06

  And here's a man who had We have every single thing going for him.

  04:07-04:11

  And as far as I can tell from Scripture, this might have been the first sermon he ever preached.

  04:12-04:12

  I don't know.

  04:13-04:14

  But that's the first one we have recorded.

  04:14-04:18

  And it was also the last one we have recorded from Stephen.

  04:20-04:20

  Cut down.

  04:22-04:24

  Seems kind of pointless, doesn't it?

  04:25-04:30

  Or maybe we would use the word "senseless." Why in the world would that happen?

  04:32-04:33

  It's like a failure, doesn't it?

  04:35-04:42

  Because we're going to see in this passage after Stephen was killed, it sparked persecution that actually scattered the church.

  04:43-04:46

  We can look at this event and say this was an epic fail.

  04:46-04:50

  The church was doing so well in Jerusalem and it was growing.

  04:50-04:51

  The people were coming to Christ.

  04:52-04:55

  And then one of the ministers gets killed and the church scatters.

  04:55-04:58

  And what an epic fail!

  04:59-05:00

  Pointless, right?

  05:02-05:05

  Well, this is where the rubber meets the road.

  05:07-05:21

  Because today we're going to see in the passage something that we've talked about several times over the past few months, especially when we went through "Incomparable God" - our series through Isaiah.

  05:21-05:23

  We spent a whole message just on this one topic.

  05:25-05:26

  We're going to be talking about sovereignty.

  05:28-05:31

  Sovereignty - what does it mean God is sovereign.

  05:32-05:33

  We throw that word around.

  05:33-05:34

  I'd like to remind you of the definition.

  05:34-05:38

  The word "sovereign" literally means "solely reigns." That's what it means.

  05:39-05:41

  It means that God is in control.

  05:41-05:46

  God is in charge over every single molecule in the universe.

  05:46-05:47

  God is in charge.

  05:48-05:52

  Over every single event in the universe, God is in charge.

  05:52-05:53

  He solely reigns.

  05:53-05:55

  God doesn't sit on a council.

  05:56-05:59

  God doesn't have people advising Him.

  05:59-06:05

  "Well, you know, Lord, here's how I think you should conduct matters." God doesn't have that, because God doesn't need that.

  06:06-06:09

  He solely reigns in perfect wisdom.

  06:10-06:19

  So when we look at this passage today, and as we examine our own lives, we really have two choices.

  06:21-06:26

  Either God is sovereign, or He is not.

  06:29-06:38

  And typically in the church, being around people, God gets credit for sovereignty when the good things happen.

  06:40-06:44

  But we are very shy about giving God credit for sovereignty when the bad things happen.

  06:45-06:45

  True or false?

  06:46-06:46

  True or false, right?

  06:47-06:51

  When the good things happen, it's like, "God caused that!

  06:51-06:51

  Who brought that?

  06:52-06:57

  And then when something bad happens, we start to wonder.

  06:59-07:00

  Where was God? Right?

  07:01-07:02

  Where was God on that one?

  07:03-07:04

  Doesn't He know?

  07:06-07:12

  For example, you get that job that you applied for that you wanted.

  07:13-07:14

  God gave me that job!

  07:15-07:18

  Wasn't it awesome that in God's sovereignty He gave me that job?

  07:19-07:20

  What about when you lose your job?

  07:22-07:23

  Was God sovereign over that too?

  07:25-07:28

  You know, you get that raise at work.

  07:29-07:30

  God's sovereignty!

  07:32-07:34

  God got me this raise!

  07:35-07:36

  God gets credit for that.

  07:36-07:40

  What about when your job forces you to take a pay cut?

  07:42-07:43

  Was God sovereign over that too?

  07:46-07:48

  You meet that special someone and got married.

  07:49-07:50

  for so many young people.

  07:50-07:54

  God just brought that person into my life and God gets credit for the sovereignty there.

  07:55-07:57

  What about the person that wants to get married?

  07:57-08:01

  That wants to meet that person and God hasn't brought that person into their life yet?

  08:02-08:05

  Has God sovereign over that as well?

  08:06-08:08

  What about with having children?

  08:10-08:12

  The biggest demographic of our church is babies, right?

  08:12-08:19

  And I preach one sermon on marital intimacy Everybody applies that one.

  08:22-08:25

  And we have so many babies in our church.

  08:26-08:28

  And the Lord gave us a baby.

  08:29-08:30

  Yes, absolutely He did.

  08:32-08:34

  What about the couples that want a baby?

  08:35-08:36

  And the Lord hasn't provided.

  08:37-08:43

  The question is, is God sovereign over that just as He was sovereign over the people that received the baby?

  08:45-08:46

  So is God sovereign?

  08:47-08:48

  God sovereign all the time.

  08:48-08:50

  Is God sovereign over all things?

  08:50-08:59

  You know Romans 8, 28, we can quote it, and we know that God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

  08:59-09:00

  All things?

  09:00-09:00

  Really?

  09:01-09:04

  That's the big word in question in that verse, isn't it?

  09:04-09:04

  All things.

  09:04-09:05

  Is it really all things?

  09:06-09:11

  Is God really working all things together for good?

  09:13-09:13

  All things.

  09:15-09:26

  many, many years ago, a good friend of mine from high school - his sister - died in a horrible car accident.

  09:29-09:44

  I was a young believer at the time, still learning some things about God, still learning some things about sovereignty, and I look back in this event and I can say absolutely before you that I said the right thing, I said it at the wrong time.

  09:46-09:57

  But I remember being at my friend's house after the funeral, and a bunch of his sister's friends were over, and a bunch of family was over, and something came up about God.

  10:00-10:06

  And I said something along the lines - I can't remember exactly what I said, but I remember the response for sure.

  10:07-10:11

  I said something along the lines of, well, God has a reason for everything.

  10:13-10:22

  I'll never forget this deceased girl's - one of her very good friends - as soon as I said that, wailing.

  10:24-10:25

  Wailing.

  10:26-10:34

  She said, "What possible reason would God have for allowing this to happen?" I didn't have an answer.

  10:37-10:41

  Her words echo in my heart to this day.

  10:43-10:44

  She verbalized them.

  10:47-10:52

  So often in situations like that, even if we don't verbalize them, we'll internalize them.

  10:53-10:53

  Why?

  10:53-10:59

  What possible motivation could God have for allowing something like that?

  11:01-11:31

  That was not the time for me to say what I said, though the words are true. I don't need to know the reason to know that there is a reason. And this passage we're looking at today shows us that even when things look as bad as they can get, God is still at work. It's time for us to examine what we believe about God's sovereignty.

  11:33-11:38

  On your outline, "When I believe God is sovereign," here's three things that are true, OK?

  11:38-11:42

  "When I believe God is sovereign," we're going to write down three things.

  11:43-11:45

  Number one, write this down.

  11:45-11:50

  "When I believe God is sovereign, I believe He uses trials for good." Let's look at the text.

  11:50-11:57

  Verse 1 says, "And Saul approved of his execution." We talked about that last week.

  11:57-12:10

  Remember, as the council was stoning Stephen outside the city, Luke mentions, as he wrote the book of Acts under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Luke mentions that there's a young man named Saul that was watching the coats.

  12:10-12:11

  That was a common practice.

  12:11-12:33

  You know, sort of like, "Hold my things, I got work to do." Luke mentions, "There's a man named Saul holding the coats," and then in verse 1 he says, "And Saul approved of his execution." You know, Luke is driving a point, and we're going to talk about this here in a couple minutes, but it wasn't as if Saul was like, "Okay, I'll watch your coach, but I'm not really crazy about what's happening." He was standing there going, "Get him.

  12:34-12:34

  Kill him.

  12:35-12:35

  Yeah.

  12:36-12:36

  Yeah.

  12:37-12:42

  Yeah." Approving of the council's actions, approving of Stephen's execution.

  12:44-12:50

  It says, "And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.

  12:53-12:58

  and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

  13:00-13:07

  So far in Acts, the persecution was only after the church leaders, the apostles and Stephen.

  13:07-13:08

  We saw the leaders targeted.

  13:08-13:13

  Now in the book of Acts we see the whole church was under attack.

  13:15-13:24

  Now when it says in verse 1, they were all scattered, It doesn't mean that every single Christian in Jerusalem was scattered.

  13:24-13:25

  Well, how do you know that?

  13:26-13:32

  Because we still see the Jerusalem church in Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 15, Acts chapter 21.

  13:32-13:36

  There's still a church in Jerusalem and your Bible says that the apostles stayed.

  13:37-13:43

  Okay, so when the Bible says "all there," it doesn't mean that every single Christian left Jerusalem.

  13:44-13:48

  It just meant church at large was scattered over the area.

  13:48-13:50

  Does that make sense?

  13:51-13:59

  Also notice it talks about where they spread, interestingly enough, throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.

  13:59-14:00

  Does that sound familiar?

  14:01-14:02

  Does that sound familiar?

  14:04-14:07

  You remember what Jesus said back in the beginning before He ascended?

  14:08-14:19

  He says, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in, remember, Jerusalem?

  14:21-14:22

  What's next?

  14:23-14:25

  Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

  14:26-14:29

  And at this point next, you could say Jerusalem, checked, right?

  14:30-14:32

  They were witnesses in Jerusalem.

  14:34-14:37

  Now they are witnesses in the very next two places that Jesus mentioned, Judea and Samaria.

  14:37-14:39

  This is the church spreading.

  14:42-14:46

  The apostles stayed behind, but the plan that Jesus laid out was moving forward.

  14:46-14:47

  Look at verse 2.

  14:49-15:02

  "Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him." And I want you to note here that Stephen is honored, not blamed.

  15:03-15:03

  Okay?

  15:05-15:09

  I think it would have been really easy for the church to blame Stephen at this point, Don't you?

  15:11-15:12

  I don't really have to sell you on that.

  15:12-15:14

  We live in a day where everybody's offended by everything.

  15:15-15:19

  Could you imagine what Facebook would have looked like in this day, had it existed?

  15:21-15:23

  Stephen should have kept his mouth shut.

  15:24-15:27

  You know, Stephen goes firing Brimstone on the council.

  15:28-15:29

  What did he think was going to happen?

  15:30-15:35

  Now the church is ruined because Stephen couldn't keep his mouth shut.

  15:36-15:39

  Why didn't Stephen - why didn't he just water it down a little bit?

  15:39-15:40

  Why didn't he sugarcoat it?

  15:40-15:43

  Why didn't he just ease up on the Gospel a little bit?

  15:43-15:45

  Why didn't he try to find some middle ground with the council?

  15:46-15:51

  Why didn't he play golf with the high priest and get to know him a little bit before he came in with the hard truth?

  15:52-15:53

  Why did Stephen do that?

  15:53-15:54

  Why did he do that?

  15:55-15:56

  Look what he did.

  15:57-16:00

  Everything was going great, and look what Stephen did.

  16:01-16:07

  You see, if those comments were circulating, you have to see in your Bible coming from the church.

  16:07-16:10

  It says the devout men were making lamentation.

  16:10-16:11

  They were mourning Him.

  16:11-16:12

  They were honoring Him.

  16:13-16:15

  The devout people were not blaming Him.

  16:16-16:23

  So often we are looking for someone to blame when God is actually working.

  16:23-16:24

  I'm going to talk about that in a second.

  16:25-16:26

  Look at verse 3.

  16:27-16:38

  It says, "But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house, He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

  16:40-16:40

  The end.

  16:41-16:43

  It looks like Acts could have ended there.

  16:45-16:48

  Jesus had this plan to build His church.

  16:48-16:58

  At this point in the book of Acts, it looks like Luke could have just wrote "the end," except it wasn't the end.

  16:59-17:00

  Because look at verse 4.

  17:01-17:12

  He says, "Now those who were scattered went about preaching the Word." This was not the church's intended vision.

  17:13-17:30

  You know, the persecution would come, and "Honey, good news, we're going on a mission trip." "When are we leaving?" "We're leaving now." "We're going to Samaria to preach." That wasn't the church's intended vision, This was Jesus' vision from the beginning.

  17:31-17:33

  This was how He made it come about.

  17:35-17:37

  I would have liked to have seen the look on Satan's face.

  17:39-17:42

  It says the scattered believers preached.

  17:42-17:45

  Satan thought at this point, church is done.

  17:45-17:47

  Church is done. Church was going great.

  17:47-17:48

  Church is scattered.

  17:48-17:53

  Now all of a sudden, we don't have just a bunch of people in one area talking about Jesus.

  17:53-17:57

  Now all of a sudden, we have people all over the region We're talking about Jesus.

  17:59-18:00

  We're talking about a backfire.

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  Note that comfort does nothing for the church.

  18:06-18:12

  With this persecution coming upon the church and this hardship and these trials, comfort does nothing for the church.

  18:12-18:13

  This is a proven fact.

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  In times of comfort in the church, you're going to find less prayer.

  18:19-18:25

  A church that is comfortable and has all the needs met and isn't facing persecution doesn't feel compelled to pray.

  18:26-18:32

  It's also proven that there's less giving when the church is comfortable.

  18:32-18:38

  We would think that there'd be less giving when there's hardship, but that is emphatically untrue.

  18:39-18:48

  Giving is worship, and you find more and deeper and greater expressions of worship when the church is going through hardship.

  18:49-18:55

  At this point in the Jerusalem church, It's so easy to just settle in.

  18:55-19:00

  I mean, if Stephen wasn't executed, can't you just imagine how the rest of the book of Acts would look?

  19:00-19:10

  The church grew, and they built greater buildings with air conditioner and big screens and state-of-the-art surround sound and HD and The End.

  19:11-19:13

  It would have been so easy for them to just settle in.

  19:14-19:15

  Like, hey, our thing's working great here.

  19:15-19:16

  People are getting saved.

  19:17-19:20

  And everybody seems to be happy.

  19:20-19:22

  and things are moving here in the church.

  19:24-19:31

  It was never God's plan to just keep that little bit of leaven in that part of the loaf.

  19:32-19:34

  The plan was always to spread.

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  God's plan was bigger.

  19:38-19:51

  And for some reason, a reason that after more than 20 years of following Christ, I just confess before you, I don't understand completely.

  19:53-19:56

  But for some reason, God chooses to accomplish His work.

  19:57-20:01

  Some of His greatest work, He chooses to accomplish through hardship and suffering.

  20:03-20:05

  I've read the Bible. I understand the Bible.

  20:07-20:09

  I understand the head thing.

  20:11-20:19

  It's just very hard for me to understand sometimes God would choose to use hardship.

  20:23-20:23

  But He does.

  20:26-20:32

  And when I struggle with the question, I have to remind myself that He is God, and I am not.

  20:35-20:38

  In fact, Jesus actually told us this is exactly what was going to happen.

  20:38-20:41

  I want you to listen to Luke 21, verses 12 and 13.

  20:42-20:58

  Jesus said, "But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for My name's sake." This is exactly what was happening.

  20:58-21:00

  I want you to hear the next thing that Jesus says.

  21:00-21:01

  This is so key.

  21:02-21:04

  Listen to the next thing Jesus says.

  21:05-21:10

  "This will be your opportunity to bear witness." Did you catch that?

  21:11-21:17

  Jesus said they are going to drag you, persecute you, they're going to put you on trial.

  21:20-21:20

  Why?

  21:21-21:25

  Jesus said this is going to be your opportunity to bear witness.

  21:26-21:27

  So here's what Jesus was saying.

  21:28-21:30

  This would be a great thing to write down.

  21:31-21:35

  Because even if you don't need it now, you're going to need this in 15 minutes or a week.

  21:35-21:36

  You're going to need this.

  21:37-21:37

  Write this down.

  21:38-21:40

  Suffering is a vehicle to witness.

  21:41-21:43

  Suffering is a vehicle to witness.

  21:45-21:46

  God wants you to witness.

  21:48-21:56

  So many times, the way that God's going to get you to the place in which He wants you to witness, the vehicle to get you there is usually suffering.

  21:59-22:00

  Still not convinced?

  22:01-22:03

  I want you to jot some references down.

  22:04-22:04

  Book of Genesis.

  22:05-22:13

  God let Joseph suffer in prison to eventually save all of Israel.

  22:15-22:18

  And I want you to notice that Joseph didn't blame his brothers.

  22:18-22:22

  You remember the end of the story when Joseph was reunited with his family.

  22:22-22:22

  Do you remember what he said?

  22:23-22:25

  "You stupid jerk sold me out!

  22:26-22:28

  You stupid jerk!" He didn't blame.

  22:29-22:31

  He saw God's sovereignty.

  22:31-22:44

  He said, "You meant it for harm, but God meant it for good." An entire nation was saved, and God accomplished this purpose by allowing a righteous man, Joseph, to suffer in prison.

  22:46-22:54

  Galatians 4.13, the Apostle Paul says that he preached the gospel to them because of a bodily ailment.

  22:55-23:00

  Meaning this, the Apostle Paul, we don't have all the details, but here's the details we do have.

  23:01-23:10

  And also, Paul ended up going to this southern glacier region and preaching and planting four churches all because of a physical ailment.

  23:10-23:11

  He got sick.

  23:11-23:17

  Some people say it was an eye problem, or I don't know if he had the gout, or I don't know what his problem was exactly.

  23:17-23:17

  He doesn't say.

  23:19-23:26

  But God used his physical suffering as a vehicle to take him to preach and plant those churches.

  23:28-23:30

  Paul didn't blame God for that.

  23:31-23:31

  "You know what, God?

  23:32-23:39

  I'd be so much more effective in ministry if I didn't have this stupid health problem." He saw God's sovereignty.

  23:39-23:45

  He said, "You used this health problem to bring people to Christ." You see that?

  23:46-23:46

  Still not convinced?

  23:47-23:47

  Alright.

  23:48-23:49

  Philippians 1:12.

  23:50-24:00

  The Apostle Paul said his suffering in prison has "served to advance the Gospel." I could feel like they got a raw deal with me, Paul.

  24:02-24:05

  Here's a preacher who spent so much of his life in prison.

  24:06-24:11

  It would be real easy for Paul to be sitting in the prison singing, "Stupid government!

  24:12-24:14

  I didn't do anything wrong!

  24:14-24:20

  I don't know why I'm being punished for this!" He didn't sit around looking for somebody to blame.

  24:20-24:22

  He saw God's sovereignty.

  24:23-24:27

  And he said this imprisonment has served to advance the Gospel.

  24:29-24:30

  Are you still not convinced?

  24:33-24:35

  How about the cross of Jesus Christ?

  24:38-24:45

  Jesus would have had every right while on the cross to say, "Those foolish religious leaders don't get it!

  24:45-24:48

  How can they know the Scriptures and not recognize Me?

  24:48-24:50

  How can they be so stupid?

  24:51-25:56

  Why is this happening to Me?" Jesus never said any of those things he knew and trusted his father's sovereignty. That God allowed Jesus to suffer so that sure salvation could be purchased. So that you could have the promise of eternal life. God allowed his son to suffer for that. I was talking with Mark Ford before service, he comes and prays with me, before the service, and we just had this conversation. I wouldn't let my son suffer for you. Either of my sons. If it was down to they suffer or you suffer, it's going to be you suffering every time. I wouldn't give one of my kids for you. I wouldn't give one of my kids for anybody. That's what makes the love of God so extraordinary because He was willing to let His son die. God used suffering as a vehicle, and in Jesus' case not just to witness but to purchase salvation.

  25:59-26:17

  So are you convinced now? We'll find out if you're convinced. We'll find out. Like when will we find out? We'll find out when you're at the hospital and you've just experienced an injury or a close family member was injured or you need to go through a surgery of some type.

  26:20-26:24

  We'll find out if you're blaming God or if you're trusting God's sovereignty.

  26:25-26:37

  I can tell you stories of people in this church that through hospital experiences had opportunity to witness God using suffering as a vehicle for witness.

  26:38-26:42

  You trust God's sovereignty when you're at that new job you didn't want to get.

  26:42-26:50

  "I love my old job. I don't know why Are you looking for blame?

  26:52-26:53

  Or are you trusting God's sovereignty?

  26:56-26:58

  What about that new address?

  26:58-26:59

  We've had a lot of that in our church.

  26:59-27:03

  People that had to move for work, for vocational reasons.

  27:04-27:06

  Is that something you blame someone for?

  27:07-27:11

  "I would have liked to stay in this area." I just had this conversation with a guy a couple of weeks ago.

  27:12-27:14

  "I wish I could have stayed there.

  27:14-27:16

  I didn't want to move." I didn't want to move. I love the church and I love the area.

  27:16-27:17

  I didn't want to move.

  27:19-27:21

  He wasn't looking for someone to blame.

  27:21-27:22

  He's trusting God's sovereignty.

  27:23-27:25

  God has me here for a reason.

  27:25-27:27

  Yes, I love the church. Yes, I love the area.

  27:27-27:30

  But I understand that God has me here for a reason.

  27:32-27:33

  Don't wallow in blame.

  27:34-27:39

  God will use whatever trial you're going through for good.

  27:39-27:41

  It's going to be a vehicle to witness.

  27:44-27:48

  When I believe God is sovereign, I believe that He uses trials for good.

  27:49-27:54

  Secondly, quickly, when I believe God is sovereign, I believe He can save anyone.

  27:57-27:59

  Again, just jumping back to verses 1-3 again.

  27:59-28:01

  Saul approved of His execution.

  28:02-28:07

  Verse 3, Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house.

  28:07-28:13

  He dragged off men and women and submitted them to prison.

  28:15-28:15

  Heartless.

  28:17-28:31

  So we - tracing Saul's story - he went from watching the coats - chapter 7, verse 58 - to approving, to actively, hands-on, involved in persecuting the church.

  28:31-28:33

  And we know the rest of Saul's story.

  28:36-28:40

  Just imagine what was going through the church's mind at the time.

  28:41-29:09

  the rest of the story so we'll read this oh yeah he becomes the Apostle Paul like a page later okay yeah we know that but imagine living through this and watching this man's life what would you have thought about him this guy's gonna be public enemy of the church forever this guy's never gonna get it this is the the worst guy on the planet and the church thought that you flip over to to Acts 9 when Paul does get saved.

  29:09-29:10

  Like the church didn't believe it.

  29:11-29:12

  Keep this guy away from us.

  29:12-29:13

  We know what he's about.

  29:15-29:16

  They were afraid.

  29:16-29:19

  They didn't believe he was legit saved.

  29:20-29:21

  He's getting worse.

  29:21-29:24

  He's further and further and further from God.

  29:25-29:30

  And I'd just like to remind you here that we all have people in our lives that we think will never get it.

  29:31-29:32

  Do you have somebody like that in your life?

  29:33-29:34

  Do you have somebody like that in your life?

  29:35-29:36

  This guy's never going to get it.

  29:37-29:39

  This guy is never going to get it.

  29:40-29:42

  This guy's never going to come to Christ.

  29:44-29:49

  To my shame, I have said that about people in the past.

  29:50-29:56

  You see somebody that hates the church and hates Jesus and looks for every opportunity to blaspheme - to my shame, I've said that.

  29:56-29:58

  Like, that guy's never going to get it.

  30:02-30:02

  No, really, Jeff.

  30:12-30:21

  that underhanded co-worker, that atheist and proud family member, that "I went to church once and I hated it" friend.

  30:24-30:27

  Paul forever stands as proof that God can save anyone.

  30:29-30:42

  Sometimes I wonder if Paul's association with Luke as Luke was under inspiration of the Holy Spirit writing the book of Revelation this account of Paul was like, "Can you leave that part out?" Saul was ravaging the church. Can you use a different word other than ravaging?

  30:43-30:46

  Maybe Paul was giving the church dirty looks or something like that.

  30:47-30:56

  But I think under inspiration of the Holy Spirit we have this testimony to show us that if God can save this guy, God can save anyone.

  30:57-31:35

  God does not lack the power to regenerate any debt doesn't lack the power when i'm tempted to write someone off easy for me i've been keeping a journal since i was sixteen and there are times i just one out go through it when i was a teenager i was not on the track to become a pastor it's just leave it at that I look at these and I'm like, "Who wrote this?" I can't believe that...

  31:35-31:41

  I mean, it's my writing, and I signed off on it, but I can't believe this is even me.

  31:44-32:28

  When I'm tempted to write someone off, all I need to do is look in the mirror and say, "God saved that guy." "God's grace was greater than this guy's." It's kind of funny sometimes because last week i told you the story last week about it being at the dance of the guy was trying to kill me get rid of that story that goes you know switchblade between the ribs like i i guess they must call and take the rest of the story you know i met up with carl years later i show up for bible study at the prison and carl comes and i just see him looking at me and looking at me and looking at me about doing ministry in your hometown.

  32:30-32:32

  It's a good thing, but it's also an embarrassing thing.

  32:33-32:36

  Because he wasn't the only person from high school that I had in prison ministry.

  32:37-32:42

  And I'd have people come in, and they're like, aren't you Jeff Miller?

  32:43-32:46

  And I'm like, I know where this is going.

  32:46-32:47

  Like, yeah.

  32:48-32:49

  Didn't you go to Cardin City?

  32:50-32:50

  Like, yeah.

  32:50-32:51

  Like, what are you doing here?

  32:54-32:56

  I'm like, I'm here for Bible study.

  32:56-33:08

  They're like, "You! You're here for Bible study! Really?" And, like, last person they would expect to see there with a Bible ready to tell them about Jesus.

  33:11-33:16

  The point is, if God can save me, God can save somebody like Saul.

  33:17-33:18

  God can save anyone.

  33:21-33:22

  So don't write anyone off, okay?

  33:23-33:25

  Pray for them. Look for opportunities to witness.

  33:25-33:29

  but above all, you need to trust the power of the Gospel.

  33:30-33:31

  God is sovereign.

  33:31-33:32

  He can save anyone.

  33:33-33:39

  Finally, when I believe that God is sovereign, I believe He has work for me to do.

  33:40-33:42

  I believe He has work for me to do.

  33:42-33:43

  Look at verse 5.

  33:45-33:54

  It says, "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ." Okay, now this Philip - this isn't the Apostle Philip.

  33:55-33:58

  This is the Philip from Acts 6, verse 5.

  33:58-34:00

  He was one of the seven named ministers.

  34:00-34:01

  Remember that?

  34:01-34:03

  Let's pick seven people to help serve these widows.

  34:04-34:06

  Philip was on that list.

  34:07-34:09

  And it says that he went to Samaria.

  34:11-34:14

  Now Samaria was about 40 miles north of Jerusalem.

  34:15-34:18

  And a little history about Samaria because it's very relevant.

  34:18-34:20

  It was actually the capital of northern Israel.

  34:22-34:37

  after the Assyrians conquered northern Israel in about 722 B.C., the Jews intermarried with other peoples and it resulted in a people group that was half-Jewish.

  34:40-34:45

  And most of the pure-blooded Jews hated these half-blooded Jews.

  34:45-34:51

  That's why when you go through the Gospels when it talks about the Samaritans, You know, the parable of the good Samaritan?

  34:52-34:56

  When Jesus' audience heard the word "Samaritan," they didn't get warm fuzzies.

  34:57-34:58

  Like, I love stories about Samaritans.

  34:58-35:01

  That was intentionally provocative.

  35:03-35:04

  Because they hated Samaritans.

  35:05-35:06

  You're a half-breed.

  35:08-35:08

  That kind of thing.

  35:09-35:10

  That's exactly where Philip went.

  35:13-35:14

  He proclaimed the Gospel.

  35:15-35:16

  He went to Samaria.

  35:16-35:30

  I was reading this this week and I was wondering, do you think Philip ever felt like God disappointed him?

  35:33-35:37

  The last mention of Philip was with Stephen in Acts 6.5.

  35:37-35:40

  And I'm not reading into the text here, okay?

  35:40-35:43

  I'm not going to try to paint you some picture that the Bible doesn't paint.

  35:45-35:47

  I don't know how deep their friendship was.

  35:47-35:49

  Maybe Philip was just a little bit Philip and Stephen were best friends.

  35:50-35:52

  Maybe they couldn't stand to be around each other.

  35:52-35:53

  I don't know.

  35:53-35:58

  But here's something that I do know for sure because of what God's Word tells us.

  35:58-35:59

  I know that they knew each other.

  36:00-36:01

  I know that they served together.

  36:02-36:13

  And I know that Philip knows he was driven out of Jerusalem because of the persecution resulting from Stephen's death.

  36:16-36:18

  Philip would have had plenty of motivation to quit ministry.

  36:20-36:35

  Think of everything he had just experienced-- the persecution, his co-worker Stephen's death, being displaced, but he still preached.

  36:38-36:43

  Death can be a very crippling thing for those of us that are left behind.

  36:45-36:47

  and many of us here have experienced.

  36:50-36:53

  Death, from our perspective, has come way too soon.

  36:57-37:10

  But I want to lovingly encourage you in Christ that as the mission continues, we can let death discourage us, or we can let death motivate us.

  37:11-37:12

  Because look at verse 6.

  37:15-37:20

  It says, "And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip.

  37:22-37:25

  When they heard him, they saw the signs that he did.

  37:26-37:31

  Unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice came out of many who had them.

  37:32-37:36

  And many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

  37:37-37:41

  So there was much joy in the city.

  37:44-37:56

  So I would encourage you to believe in God's sovereignty, that even in the aftermath of death, don't stop.

  37:58-38:01

  Like Philip, God still has work for you to do.

  38:02-38:04

  He still has something for you to do.

  38:06-38:16

  And you can let that death of that close person discourage you, you can let it motivate you.

  38:18-38:23

  And I have to wonder how much of Stephen's death was a motivator for Philip.

  38:25-38:35

  So as I close, as I said at the beginning, we've talked so much about sovereignty, and we've defined it, and we've studied Bible passages.

  38:36-38:38

  I want to close by answering a question.

  38:38-38:40

  what does sovereignty look like?

  38:42-38:45

  I saw a picture of what sovereignty looks like, actually, a couple of years ago.

  38:46-39:02

  A friend of mine took me to a John Piper conference on-- it was on God's sovereignty through raising children with special needs or any type of disability.

  39:03-39:06

  But this friend of mine and I went to Minneapolis.

  39:07-39:15

  He said, "Hey, have you ever been to the Mall of America?" And I said, "No, I've actually never been to Minneapolis before." And he goes, "Well, you've got to check this place out.

  39:15-39:17

  How many people have been to the Mall of America?

  39:17-39:18

  Anybody been there?

  39:19-39:19

  One?

  39:20-39:20

  Just one?

  39:21-39:25

  OK, well, isn't that place incredible?

  39:26-39:29

  It's got like a roller coaster in the mall.

  39:30-39:32

  OK, and I'm not like real big on malls.

  39:32-39:33

  I really don't care.

  39:33-39:36

  But this place has like-- it has like Kennywood.

  39:36-39:37

  is inside the mall.

  39:38-39:41

  And I don't just mean like the little train that goes around Santa's thing or whatever.

  39:41-39:46

  I'm talking about a whole amusement park is inside this mall.

  39:46-39:47

  It's absolutely incredible.

  39:48-39:51

  Well, they have a LEGO store.

  39:53-40:07

  And as we were walking by the store, walking really close, there was a-- I looked at that for a second, and I thought, That is some abstract art right there.

  40:08-40:09

  Actually, it's kind of ugly.

  40:12-40:15

  It's kind of a mess.

  40:18-40:27

  See, when I was standing up close to this picture, I found out I was actually standing too close to the picture, because none of this makes sense.

  40:28-40:29

  It just looks like a mess.

  40:30-40:34

  And I took several steps backwards, And this is what I saw.

  40:36-40:37

  This is the same picture.

  40:38-40:41

  I was just standing really, really, really, really close to it.

  40:45-40:50

  When I stepped back, I saw the big picture.

  40:53-40:59

  And what I saw when I stepped back was-- it all makes sense now.

  41:01-41:13

  You see, every little piece that you look at in this picture when you're up close - every little piece is senseless and messy and it doesn't seem to add up.

  41:13-41:14

  What's this all about?

  41:14-41:24

  But when you take a step back, you see how every piece is part of a beautiful picture.

  41:26-41:34

  And I want to encourage you, church, There is so much in your life that is like the first picture.

  41:34-41:37

  There's so much in your life that is like this picture.

  41:39-41:44

  You're too close to it and you have this small, limited picture of what is happening.

  41:45-41:59

  But if you could step back and see this from God's perspective, your senseless little piece is actually part of something bigger and beautiful.

  42:01-42:09

  And even though we don't see the big picture now, by faith we know that it exists.

  42:11-42:35

  By faith, we're going to trust God in His sovereignty to make our little messy piece of the picture part Father in heaven, there is so much about you that we don't understand.

  42:38-42:40

  Your word tells us that your ways are higher than our ways.

  42:41-42:43

  Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

  42:46-42:54

  And yes, there is a sense in which we have your word, we study your word, and we understand so much about you, but there is a sense in which we don't understand.

  42:54-43:04

  when we come to talk about Your sovereignty and Your purposes so much bigger than our little minds can even fathom.

  43:07-43:12

  So Father, I pray today, my brothers and sisters here, I pray today for eyes of faith.

  43:14-43:17

  Your Word tells us that we walk by faith, not by sight.

  43:17-43:27

  And so many times in our lives we just look at our immediate circumstances We can look at the hardship from persecution.

  43:27-43:29

  We can look at the death of someone close to us.

  43:29-43:33

  We can look at suddenly being displaced.

  43:33-43:36

  We can look at things that Your Word describes.

  43:36-43:49

  We look at them like they're horrible things and they're bad things, but through Your Word we see that suffering really is a vehicle to witness.

  43:50-44:01

  Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters here the next time they find themselves, the next time we find ourselves in a place where we don't want to be, experiencing a hardship that we didn't sign up for.

  44:03-44:16

  Give us eyes of faith to see that perhaps this is the vehicle that you're using to be witnesses. This is a vehicle that you're using that we might bring glory to your name.

  44:17-44:25

  We believe. Help our unbelief. We pray in Jesus' name.

  44:46-45:00

  everyone through our website. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so at harvestpittsburgnorth.org/giving. And be sure to be back here next week as we continue to dig deep into God's Word.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 8:1-8

1. Concerning Stephen’s death and the persecution fallout, how would you describe God’s involvement in that? Did God actively “CAUSE” Stephen’s death and the persecution? Did God just “ALLOW” it?

2. Consider your answer to number 1 above. What is God’s involvement in a trial you are facing right now? Is He causing it, allowing it, unaware of it… what?

3. Why do you think God so often chooses to use suffering to accomplish His purposes?

Breakout Questions:

1. Pray for faith to trust God’s sovereignty and purposes through whatever trial you are going through.