22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—23 this Jesus,1 delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—23 this Jesus,1 delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:
Acts 2 22 through 41. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth of Nazareth, a man tested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of god, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Speaker 1:
For David says concerning him, I saw the lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life.
Speaker 1:
You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. That he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God raised up.
Speaker 1:
And of that, we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel, therefore, know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
Speaker 1:
And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for your forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added this day about 33,000 souls.
Joel Brooks:
Pray with me. Lord, we thank you for your word and how you use your word to change lives, to change cultures, to change nations. We pray right now that you would use your word to change this room, that through the power of your spirit, as we hear your Word, our hearts would be cut open, and that our lives would be changed. I pray for those who might not know you, that tonight they would hear your voice clearly calling them to you. God, I now I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:
And I pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. But before we get started with the text we just read, make a cardinal sin of a pastor. I'm actually gonna backtrack and, and pick up on something we we didn't have time to talk about last week, but I feel like it's necessary before we move on. Last week, we looked at Pentecost and how when the Holy Spirit fell down and filled those disciples, and and Peter ran out of that room like like a man lit on fire, and and preached his sermon, to all those gathered outside.
Joel Brooks:
And and they were speaking in different languages and everybody heard them in their own language. And and so, Peter's first words out of his mouth was to explain what was happening, to to explain why they were speaking in tongues. And so he goes to Joel chapter 2, and he explains what you're seeing is a fulfillment of Joel 2, the prophecy that God's spirit is being poured out on all flesh and that old and young people, men and women, they will be prophesying and they will all be filled with the spirit and that we are living in the last days, the last days. I mean, it's very important for us to know what we should expect when living in the last days. The expectations are, are very important to understand.
Joel Brooks:
A matter of fact, most of the, the marital counseling that that I do, people who come to me, a lot of it is because they had wrong expectations of marriage when going in. And you have husbands, you know, who thought, you know, I thought we would, I thought we'd be like riding bikes every single day. You know, I thought we'd be be doing all that. I thought that even though we have 3 kids, you would always have plenty of energy for me all the time. You know, and that was their expectations.
Joel Brooks:
Or the wife might be, you know, I was thinking every night a fire and you're reading poetry, you know, or and the guy doesn't like poetry and he can't even light a fire. And just, you know, these expectations, they each had them and they were unmet and it was a source of conflict. And they just need a realistic expectations. Like, first off, marriage isn't about happiness, it's about sanctification. And once you understand the expectations, then then it equips you to deal with marriage.
Joel Brooks:
And it's the same here. We need to know what to expect as we are living in these last days that Joel 2 talks about the prophecy and Joel that Peter quotes has 2 parts to it that we looked at. We only looked at 1 part last week, but it has 2 parts. It's got this beautiful part about the spirit of god being poured out on all flesh, but then it has this darker part to it. This this imagery of blood and fire and smoke and the sun getting dark and the the moon turning to blood.
Joel Brooks:
And so normally when people preach, they they preach on that first part. You know, we like the spirit of God falling down and we'd like, you know, poured out on all flesh. And usually you don't mention this darker part, but Peter could have stopped. He could have not read all of Joel's prophecy there. When he rushed out of that room, he says, this is what's happening.
Joel Brooks:
He did not just say the spirit of God is falling and there's going to be prophecy. He said, and you know, blood, fire, smoke, sun being darkened, the moon turning to blood, and he uses this dark imagery. And it's important for us to understand what he is saying here. That Pentecost is about both of these experiences because if you just hold on to 1, you're gonna be really misled and misguided. You're not the wrong expectations for what the Christian life should look like.
Joel Brooks:
If you understand just the beautiful part, then you're gonna think that once you become a Christian, everything is going to be amazing. Not only are you gonna stop sinning, your children will stop sinning. They'll be, you know, perfectly obedient children. Your marriage is gonna be perfect. There will no longer be conflict.
Joel Brooks:
You're no longer gonna struggle with depression. The things that you set out to do, god's gonna be with you and you are gonna conquer the world. You're gonna change the world. You're gonna think you could go out there and you can stop oppression. You can stop injustice.
Joel Brooks:
You can solve the problem of poverty. You're going to go out there and say, I'm filled with the spirit. I can do these things as the spirit is being poured out on all flesh. And and if that is your expectation of Pentecost, then you're going to go out there. And what's going to happen when you have your first, you know, little little quabble with your wife.
Joel Brooks:
And when your child disobeys you or when you you do something you feel like the lord's calling you to do, but it fails. All of a sudden because you had the wrong expectation, your faith begins to implode. And if you just hold to the other part of Joel's prophecy, the, the darker part, you know, which is showing that there's still sin and that there is still judgment, then you're gonna go out there and you're gonna think, well, there's, you know, why do anything? We can't change the world. I can't have a better marriage.
Joel Brooks:
I can't get rid of sin. You know, forget the word. I'm gonna let the the world go to hell and I'm just gonna wait for heaven and you won't do anything. And and as the what we need to do in our Christian life, as we are filled with the spirit, because of Pentecost, we hold both of these views of Joel 2. We hold both the beautiful and we hold the dark and we we hold them together.
Joel Brooks:
As what's happened at Pentecost is we do have this beauty. We have the Holy Spirit poured out on us. And as Paul talked about, and we've seen a couple weeks past, he calls us the first fruits of of the spirit. This is our really our first fruits of heaven coming in. And this isn't an imaginary taste.
Joel Brooks:
You don't just have to, like, now imagine what God is like or imagine heaven. You've been given a very real taste. This real piece of heaven. And so when that is broken into your life, you can have real joy. Your marriage can be better.
Joel Brooks:
You can begin solving some of the, the injustices and the poverty that's out there. You can begin making a difference in society. Those things can happen because heaven is broken in. But it's just the first fruit. You have to remember, it's just the first fruit.
Joel Brooks:
It's not the final fruit. And although heaven is broken in, it's not broken in in full and there will still be injustice. There will always be poverty. There's still going to be faults in your marriage. Your children are still going to sin and so are you.
Joel Brooks:
And so you're not surprised by those things. And so we live holding both of these things. When we are filled with the spirit knowing that we've really been given the spirit, we've really been given heaven, but it's just the first fruits. And so there will always be sin. There will always be injustice, but I can still go out and give people a real taste of heaven.
Joel Brooks:
Not an imaginary one, a real one. And just that taste can change the world. And that's what, that's what you see throughout acts. So what Paul talks about in 2nd Corinthians 4, when he's, he's talking about the spirit of God coming and living inside of us, inside of this jar of clay, he says, we have this treasure and jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. And then he talks about the Christian life.
Joel Brooks:
We are afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed. We're perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are persecuted, but we are not forsaken. We are struck down, but we are not destroyed. And you see right there, that prophecy in Joel, you see the beauty and you see the darkness both at play and how the spirit works in our life.
Joel Brooks:
And you're gonna see this throughout acts as people take that little piece, that first fruits of heaven, and they change the world. There's gonna be a change that happens here unlike any change that has ever happened in human history. The disciples are literally doing it, doing it turn the world upside down through the power of the spirit. To do some research on this, I went to the best source possible out there. I went to Wikipedia.
Joel Brooks:
Actually, I just, I got on the internet and I Googled, why did Christianity spread so fast? That's That's what I Googled. So you could you could Google that at home if you want to. I would just, you know, why did Christianity spread so fast, oh mighty oracle of Google. And and Wikipedia was the first link that went up.
Joel Brooks:
And so I clicked on Wikipedia and so here's the answer I got. Christianity began spreading initially from Jerusalem and then throughout the Near East, ultimately becoming the state religion of Armenia in 301, of Ethiopia in 325, of Georgia in 337, and then the state church of the Roman empire in 380, becoming common to all of Europe in the middle ages. It expanded throughout the world during Europe's age of exploration. Christianity has thus become the world's largest religion, end quotes. And that was, you know, that's a great summary.
Joel Brooks:
It's a great summary of the spread of Christianity, but it tells me nothing of the how, nothing of the why. Just kind of reports facts there. And so I Googled some more, and I still found nothing. And so I went to like the the lesser oracles out there of Yahoo and and Bing, and and, and, and I tried them and still I, I found nothing. Nothing out there was giving me the answers to this.
Joel Brooks:
I found articles that told how Christians, they took care of the sick and they took care of the poor more than anybody else ever had in history. And, and I read other articles about how Christians were severely persecuted, yet when they faced certain death, they did it with a joy and a courage that was unknown throughout all human history. I mean, lions were sent out to the Christians in the arenas, and they were singing hymns as the lions tore them apart. And when people saw this, they just thought, they're testifying about something something real is happening. And so, you would read articles about that and you would read articles about how, you know, Christianity spread because it involved every class.
Joel Brooks:
It involved the rich and involved the poor and involved men and women, free man, slave. And so you can read these articles about why Christianity spread, but really, it didn't tell you why. Well, why exactly did the Christians serve the poor and and help the sick and dying unlike anybody else in history? Why was it exactly that they did have such joy and courage when facing certain death? Why is it, you know, that they did include people of every race and every class?
Joel Brooks:
The the big why, you won't find anywhere. You can't. The only place you're gonna find is here in the book of Acts. Tells you the why, the the real why. Google failed me.
Joel Brooks:
Acts is is is told me why this has happened, and it's because of Pentecost. At Pentecost, god unleashed a power that the world has never known, And that power completely turned that that small group of people, used them to spread all over the world, all over the globe, changing the world. The power of his holy spirit. And when you see this here, when Peter is filled with the spirit and he goes out and he preaches the first Christian sermon ever, 3,000 people came to believe. 3,000 people like that.
Joel Brooks:
The only way to explain that is through the power of God's spirit. I want us to look at the sermon that Peter preached that when accompanied by the power of God's spirit was used so mightily for that initial explosion of Christianity that would take over the world. So let's look back at acts 2 verse 22. We'll just read this one verse. Men of Israel, hear these words.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know. At the very start of Peter's message, he reminds them of Jesus and all the miracles, all the signs, and the wonders that Jesus did at the very start. And I want you to notice something here. Peter assumes that these people knew what he was talking about. There's an assumption here.
Joel Brooks:
He says that Jesus attested himself to them through his mighty works, That Jesus was not an unknown figure to this audience. Jesus did not just perform his miracles to a select few that nobody knows about. He's talking to people who had seen him at work. Jesus healed entire towns. Jesus raised people from the dead in very public settings.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus fed 1,000 upon 1,000 of people, you know, with the with the boy's lunch. So the people out there had seen probably the majority of them seen the miracles and the works of Jesus. If I'll put it this way. If they had not seen the works of Jesus, Peter's sermon would have flopped. If he gets up there and he says, hey, let me remember.
Joel Brooks:
Do you remember all the miracles of Jesus that he had tested? You know, that that it that the signs and the wonders that attested to Jesus? Do you remember him doing those? If they didn't, 3,000 people are not saved. They're a liar.
Joel Brooks:
No. None of us remember. Was anybody there? But people are like, yes. Yes.
Joel Brooks:
We remember that. Christianity could not have spread if these things were not both public and true. He's telling them, he's reminding them what they have seen and what they know. You're gonna find this later in acts 25, whenever we get there. When Paul appears before the governor Festus and King Agrippa, and he's telling them about the wonders and the signs of Jesus, I love it.
Joel Brooks:
Governor Festus goes, Paul, your great education has made you come out of your mind. You're going crazy. And and Paul, he turns from Festus and he looks at Agrippa and he's like he basically says, Festus, just ask Agrippa. Just ask the king. For these things were not done in a corner.
Joel Brooks:
I love that. And the king, Agrippa, doesn't contradict Paul. It's like, Festus, you don't believe me? Ask the king because they were all done in his backyard. And even the king knows about all the miracles of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
And so one of the reasons that Christianity exploded was because these things were not done in a corner. They were not. 1,000 upon 1,000 saw the life and the miracles of Jesus. And that's why they do not refute Peter here. And I want you to notice too, that Peter is not, he's not getting up there saying, alright, I'm asking you guys to to take a leap of faith.
Joel Brooks:
I'm I'm asking you to just take a blind leap of faith. He's not doing that in his first sermon. He's saying, Hey, you guys know this. Think about it. Think about what you saw and you've heard.
Joel Brooks:
Peter then goes on to say that these people killed Jesus. Look at verse 23, man, Peter has changed a lot. Once shy, fearful, not shy, just fearful Peter now looks to these people and says, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, losing the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. And so we hear Peter go straight to the cross.
Joel Brooks:
1st, he tells that the life of Jesus, then he goes straight to the cross. One of my neighbors, he's a landscape architect and he he does, he's not a Christian. And probably about 3 weeks ago, he came over to our house to show us something. He had just been commissioned to do all the landscape work at a really large cemetery. And they also said, can you put up some kind of statue?
Joel Brooks:
He said, okay. And so he came up with this idea of coming up with a 30 foot tall cross that was really, it was a, it's kind of a artsy kind of tall cross and 30 feet tall. And he had the mock up of it, a small mock up of it that he came to show me and Lauren. And he says, I want you to see the here's the statue that I'm gonna put up. And what do you think about it?
Joel Brooks:
I was like, it's gorgeous. I mean, it was it was a beautiful. I said, we love it. And and then he asked, he goes, now, when you see this, what religion does this say to you? I I honestly, I I didn't even know how to answer.
Joel Brooks:
I was like and Lauren goes, Christianity? I mean, we thought it was a trick question. As you know, Jesus and the cross. And he goes, I was, I was hoping that somehow it would, it would speak to all religions. And I still, I didn't quite know how to respond.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, the, the preacher is just dumbfounded. And my wife says, but only Jesus died on the cross. He goes, I know, but somehow I just thought all religions would be able to identify with this. Finally, I was like, well, many religions are offended by this. Not only could they not identify, they would be offended.
Joel Brooks:
And the reason I share this is because I think my neighbor is a good representation of what most people think Christianity is. You you you were when they when they hear, you need to become a Christian, they don't go to the cross. What they hear is you need to become a better person. You need to quit sinning. You need to quit drinking.
Joel Brooks:
You need to quit living with your girlfriend. You need to go to church. You need to turn over a new leaf. That's what people hear when they say you need to become a Christian. They don't go to the cross.
Joel Brooks:
And we have to remember that. We have to to consciously keep leading people to the cross. Otherwise, when they hear you need to be a Christian, they think you're telling them they need to be more moral. Yet, there's not a shred of that in Peter's sermon. It's nowhere in here he's saying, guys, you need to turn over a new leaf.
Joel Brooks:
Guys, you need to quit smoking. I saw you, you know, yes, you went around the corner, but I saw you. Now he's not saying that. He he's not talking about all what they do. He's saying, look at what Jesus has done on the cross.
Joel Brooks:
Look at the atonement, how he has paid for your sins. And that's what Mark's Christianity is the cross. That's why when Peter would go to the Corinthians, he could say to them, I determined to know nothing among you except for Jesus Christ and him crucified. Because Jesus is the center of what we believe. Jesus and his crucifixion.
Joel Brooks:
And we have to remind ourselves of that. We don't have to add anything to it. That's the central message that Peter preached, but he didn't stop there. He didn't leave Jesus in the grave. He says, and Jesus rose from the dead.
Joel Brooks:
And I love how it's it's really interesting how Peter explains the resurrection. He kinda turns things around for us. Most of us think of the resurrection as being the miracle. In Peter's mind, the death of Jesus was the miracle. Because then he says, I mean, it wasn't possible.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, did we really think it could keep the Son of God in a grave? No. You can't kill the Son. I mean, it was a miracle that we were able to kill the Son of God. But of course the grave can't keep him.
Joel Brooks:
And the resurrection is not almost not even seen as a miracle. It's just seen as that's something that had to happen. He uses a language pain there, which is used to describe a a woman and the pains of childbirth. And what he's kinda communicating is the grave can no more hold Jesus than a pregnant woman can hold her child in. The child is going to come out.
Joel Brooks:
And although you killed Jesus, it's simply not possible to keep him in the grave. It's not possible. Jesus rose from the dead. And then he goes on and he says, do you realize how unique that is? The best king we have, King David.
Joel Brooks:
And and he quotes something from King David. He says, you know what King David? He was buried. You can go to his grave. You go to his tomb.
Joel Brooks:
King David's dead. Jesus is not dead. And we can say that about every religious leader. We can say, Mohammed is dead. Gandhi is dead.
Joel Brooks:
Confucius is dead. Buddha is dead. Every religious leader dead except for Christianity, In which we hold a exalted and a risen Lord in which the grave could not keep him. Jesus conquered the grave. And then Peter concludes his sermon and acts in verse 36 with this says, let all the house of Israel, therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.
Joel Brooks:
This Jesus whom you crucified. There's a lot going on here. We've looked at it in in in the past when we're going through Colossians, but just the phrase, their lord and Christ. If you're a Roman citizen, you had one lord. You had to take an oath to that lord, and it was lord Caesar.
Joel Brooks:
And and lord Caesar can make any command, could ask of anything, and total obedience was required. And here he's saying, no, no, no, no. There is 1 lord and it's the lord Jesus. And he also could command anything. And that's why after this, you hear this, what, what must we do?
Joel Brooks:
Because there is nothing that Lord Jesus cannot ask of us. Nothing. Verse 37 says, now, when they heard this, when they heard of the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection, the exaltation of Jesus. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? They were cut to the heart.
Joel Brooks:
I'd say that being cut to the heart is how you can understand what it means to be a Christian. It's not when you, you know, weigh the pros and the cons of, you know, shall be a Christian pros, you know, all these things, cons, these things, and it's when it's it's not when that you realize you've violated rules, that you've broken all these rules that God has made and so you have to somehow reform and change your life, is when you realize you've broken God's heart and that Jesus died for your sins and He is risen again that you might have life. And when you realize you crucified Jesus, you, through your sinfulness, it it through the Holy Spirit cuts you to the heart. Cuts you. I mean, this is you're just laid bare.
Joel Brooks:
Your soul is laid bare. And there is nothing you would not do. And Peter responds to these people as they are, as the holy spirit cuts them to the heart and the holy spirit does what the holy spirit said he was going to do, convict the world concerning sin. And that's what he's doing here. True conviction.
Joel Brooks:
They say, what can we do? Peter says, repent and be baptized. And and the repent there is is simply means to change your mind or to turn direction. And what he's saying is all of you, like sheep going astray, were going this way. Turn around.
Joel Brooks:
Instead of running away from Jesus, run to Jesus. Run to him. And be baptized saying, make a very public confession of your faith right now. For for those of you who grew up Baptist, this is almost the baptism and and conversion and acts is very similar to, like, the walking the aisle. It's like some people almost see that as, as one event.
Joel Brooks:
They ask, when did he become a Christian? Or he could become, when did he walk the aisle? You know, they're, they were seen so synonymous there. It's It's just what you did when you became a Christian. You made that public confession.
Joel Brooks:
I grew up in a Baptist church like that. I walked the aisle. In the early church, there was simply no such thing as an unbaptized Christian. That that language was just completely foreign to them. So saying, you know, change the direction you're going.
Joel Brooks:
Change your mind. Instead of running away from Jesus, turn towards him. Publicly confess him through baptism. As a church, before we get to our interviews, just let me say, as a church, my prayer is that we would understand what's going on here. It's so simple, yet it is so foreign in church culture, especially in America.
Joel Brooks:
Peter, in the first sermon, first Christian sermon ever, simply gets up there and says, this is how Jesus lived. This is how Jesus died. This is how Jesus rose from the dead. Believe. And then he trusted the Holy Spirit to do what the Holy Spirit does and cut 3,000 people to the heart, and they came to follow Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
Peter didn't get up there and say, I've got a great new program that we're gonna launch. You know, we're launched Sunday is next Sunday. It's also bring a friend Sunday, bring them in, and, you know, we're, we're, we're going to launch this. This. He didn't tell about their new campaign, the new programs.
Joel Brooks:
It, there was none of this fluff. There was none of this backdoor to get people into church so they might hear half of the gospel and possibly be changed. There was none of that. He simply trusted the spirit of God who had been poured out. He said, all I need to do is simply say who Jesus is because there's nothing that the Holy Spirit would rather do than to glorify Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
And so if I get out of the way, and I actually come and say, this is Jesus. You saw how he lived. You saw how he died. He he he's risen from the dead. And now, you trust the Holy Spirit to change people and not you.
Joel Brooks:
And the Holy Spirit moves. And I pray we we grab onto that as a church. For a number of reasons. One is biblical too. We don't have the money to do any programs.
Joel Brooks:
Okay? You know, we don't have the facilities to do, you know, all the other fancy. We don't have any of that, and we don't need any of that. What we need to do is believe the gospel and trust God's spirit to glorify Jesus. And God will use that to change the world.
Joel Brooks:
Pray with me. Our father, I we ask that you forgive us for how we have so muddied the waters, That we can preach the gospel with such distortion. People have to wait for the mud to settle before they can see clearly Jesus. And we were pent of that. Forgive us for so often being a distraction and drawing people to us and then wondering why the holy spirit does not empower our messages, empower our evangelism.
Joel Brooks:
It's because it's about us. It's about our programs, inviting people to our church and what we're doing. And it's so little of it is about you, Jesus. Holy Spirit, empower us as a church to simply go and share without fanfare. Just simply share who Jesus is.
Joel Brooks:
And spirit, we trust You to work. I pray you would do that in our church. If there's anyone here who does not know you, who, and when we look at being cut in the heart that that's just so foreign to them. They're thinking, I've never been cut to the heart. God, I pray you would do that in these moments.