Stand

“Stand”

• Mission- Sent to Speak & Respond to God’s Work of Redemption
• Here’s where we are headed
  • Next week we will finish Acts 7.  After that we have Thanksgiving weekend and we will have a celebration service reviewing our series and hearing how God has used you as a missionary in your neighborhood.
    • I would like some testimonies that have been from THIS series of how you have been on Mission to your neighborhood.
• After Thanksgiving we will start our Christmas series called  “Human” (SLIDE) where we will be asking the Question, What does it mean to be Human? Starts Dec. 3rd and Ending where humanity and divinity meet in the coming of Jesus at our Christmas service on Dec. 24th!

Acts 6:8-15, pg. 914, Invite Patrick up to read. Read / Pray

• Review last week, working together, we know attacks will come, But it’s who we are.

SLIDE- You are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

• The week before we talked about being full, of the Spirit, power, grace wisdom and faith.
  • Does this happen today? Can I be a man or a women and live in the same power that I see in the first century?   YES!
  • We just have a hard time believing it.
  • It’s not  “just have more faith”. But it’s actually believing what we already know. “If we just simply believed WE ARE the body of Christ it would change the way w do Mission, the way we treat each other.
  • Sin has entered in the picture, true, but the implications of the cross begin to remedy those as we look to the simple solution of Jesus. The way were meant to live becomes a reality… you are the body of Christ!

#1. Stand with Power

SLIDE-  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11

• The same SPIRIT! Which means the same power!
• There is also power in the message! When we “speak” of God’s work of Redemption”

SLIDE- For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… Romans 1:16

• The spirit in you with a message from God equals POWER!
• So stand with power.
• BUT, people don’t like this type of power! Sin has a way of getting in the way. Much like darkness and light don’t get along…
• Read Vs. 9.
  • Synagogue of the Freedman or Libertines.
  • Greek speaking Jews, Hellenists.
  • There was a group, maybe started there, healings and miracles outside the synagogue so others joined in…
• Saul assumed.
  • Tarsus is the capitol of Cecilia, Luke pre-intro.
  • Gamaliel at the council, talks to Saul to go check it out.
  • We see Saul was at the mock trial in chapter 7 and oversees and approves it in Acts 7:58 and 8:1.
• Here’s whats crazy. Saul is the prize student, a Pharisee, highly educated, the kind of guy who never losses.
• read vs. 10

#2. Stand with Courage!

• Why? Because you have power in Spirit & in the message!
• Stephen was young in the LORD and the ways of Jesus!
• The church just started. Really knowing how Jesus connected to the Old Testament, and to know it well to hold your own in a debate? Crazy!

SLIDE-  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 will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. Luke 21:12–15

• Is it ok to Debate and dispute?

SLIDE-  But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:14–15

SLIDE-  So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. Acts 9:28-29

• Saul, now Paul, is empowered with the Spirit and the Gospel “disputes”

Application

• Why don’t speak of this then?
• Fear and what if’s
• It’s the “dispute” that scares us, right? What if someone disagrees? Are we sure ourselves that our faith is defendable? 

Tools. 

#1. Is the bible reliable? Can it be trusted?

The Bible has proven to be more historically and archaeologically accurate than any other ancient book. It has been subjected to the minutest scientific textual analysis possible to humanity and has been proven to be authentic in every way.   Institute for Creation Research

• Historically & Archaeologically as a book it is accurate.
• Scribes and how they copied the text.
• They must wipe the pen and wash their entire bodies before writing the word “Jehovah,” every time they wrote it.
• The letters, words, and paragraphs had to be counted, and the document became invalid if two letters touched each other
• 66 books total and the 39 in the OT, 27 in the NT.
• The Bible was written over a period of roughly 2,000 years by 40 different authors from three continents, who wrote in three different languages. Yet despite this marvelous array of topics and goals, the Bible displays a flawless internal consistency. It never contradicts itself or its common theme. Creation, fall, redemption, restoration all culminating to a man, the man Christ Jesus.

#2. Prophecy- Jesus as the messiah.

• Probability. 8 prophecies / 10 to the 17th power

#3. Philosophically speaking the God of the bible aligns with our reality.

• The ethical pull of man to do what’s right can be accounted for since we were created in God’s image
• The definition of what’s right varying across all peoples speaks to the fall and how we need a savior.
• Our belief in the transcendental, none material things like beauty, love, logic, purpose and morality points to a God who is outside our dimension.
• The very laws of logic are dependent on an absolute, transcendental, universal, being otherwise we could never make a claim of truth. It would all be relative, worthless, meaningless, but though your common humanist would say that, no one lives like that. The very fact that someone would argue a point assumes there is purpose and truth to be found…
• You may say, “Yeah but you have studied and so it’s easy for you”.
• I learned these when I was out preaching the gospel.
• You are going to mess it up, but remember, you have power… now have courage… This changes our countenance. As we look to Jesus and accept the invitation to speak and respond to His wok of redemption, we glow with his glory!

Read vs. 15. Please STAND. Stand with power and courage! Invite people up to put their fears, names of people they want to be saved, etc. at the cross.

Sermon Slides