"A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 2

Good morning.

So thank you.

We're all among family here, so I think I'll start with this.

I had a coat hanging in my closet for several weeks and I put it on and it looked like,

Kathy said, like I had slept in it.

So I brought it and I put it in the dryer up here with some ice.

And I'll ask you, which would be more distracting to you, if I preach this morning without a

coat on or if I had this one on?

I'm voting for the no coat today, so if somebody tells me otherwise, then you may see me in

a coat.

Otherwise, this is what you get today.

We are looking at challenges that the church will always face in the book of Acts.

And Acts is often referred to as the history book of the church.

And there are a lot of different ways to study any book of the Bible.

I've never looked at Acts through this particular lens and we got off to a great start last

week with a background and introduction to the book of Acts and we saw the challenges

that they were facing before the church was even established.

We see that they're sitting in the waiting room, as it were, and they're ready to go.

They're waiting to accomplish the mission that they have been encouraged by their Lord

to undertake.

And in that time of waiting, there's also a job for them to do.

Before they even get started, they've got to make some leadership changes and we saw

that last week.

We see them moving from the waiting room to go through a door of opportunity when we come

to Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And that's what we're going to focus on today.

Originally, and this is the, originally we called it the challenge of sharing, of preaching

rather.

We're going to call it the challenge of sharing the gospel and we'll show you why in just

a moment.

In Acts chapter 1, you may remember that there are 120 who are gathered in that room.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And they're in that period of waiting and in that number we have women, certain women,

maybe the ones that began with Jesus in the Galilean ministry.

Luke would give that emphasis in Luke chapter 8.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

This is the last mention of Mary, the mother of Jesus in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

We have, of course, the apostles, including the one that was selected and justice who

was not, and then we have some Jewish brethren, including the brothers of Jesus.

And we're not really given a clear indication as to what role they're going to play in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

When we begin to read what's going to happen with the spirit coming, and we'll look more

at that in a moment, there are people who are gathered from every nation under heaven.

And as they do, they're hearing and they're seeing these wonders.

So are there the women and the other brethren who have filed out among the crowd, who are

speaking in tongues?

We know that Cornelius and his household would have included not just Cornelius and any male

members but all that made up that household.

Whatever it is, it signals them, it makes them alert to the fact that something unusual

is taking place.

And God is creating this opportunity so that the gospel can be preached.

But as far as the proclaiming goes on this occasion, it's a job that's given to Peter

and the rest of the apostles.

Remember back in the Great Commission in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they're told the apostles

are gathered before Jesus ascends to heaven.

And as he's about to take that step, he says that they are to go into all the world.

They're the original recipients of the charge to go and share the gospel.

Now we stand on their shoulders, men, women, young people, elders, deacons, preachers,

and all members.

We share in that task that God has given us to do that.

But as you look in chapter 2 and verse 14, it's Peter whose sermon is going to be recorded.

He stands with the eleven and it's going to be shared.

Now again, the original challenge as Hiram and I mapped out this class was the challenge

of preaching the gospel.

And I think that that's an okay for us, a way for us to designate this as long as we're

not thinking in our mind about the public proclamation.

Preaching as in the formal assembly, like what we're doing.

I mean, if you think about it, is that what Peter's doing in Acts chapter 2?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Is it the equivalent of what we're going to do in the next hour?

Not really.

I mean, there's some things that correspond.

And how many preachers have actually preached the outline of Acts chapter 2 in their sermon?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

We're actually going to look at that a little later in the class today.

But it's a public sharing of the good news.

Now preaching is an important word in the book of Acts, but you don't even see it in

our text.

Originally, our text was Acts 2 and 3.

Spoiler alert, we're not going to get out of chapter 2 today.

We keep kicking that can down the road and Hiram's going to deal with that in Acts 3

through 5 next week, Lord willing.

The first time you come across the word 17 times in the book of Acts is in Acts chapter

Acts 5 · chapter mention

5 in verse 42.

There's no doubt that that's exactly what they're doing.

When we define that word preach, it helps us to understand this.

Now what would be a good working definition of preach?

Proclaim, teach, share the good news, right?

So there's the idea behind all of that.

And this definitely describes what we're going to read in Acts chapter 2 and again in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and throughout the book of Acts.

But this is as much like evangelism as the public part of preaching that we do in our

assemblies.

Now, later in Acts, we're going to have some other occasions where evangelism is the centerpiece

of our study because it's going to keep coming up.

It's at the heart of who we are, evangelism, sharing the good news.

There are three classes in the second half of this class in which we're going to look

at the challenge of evangelism and we're going to do so through the prism of the first, second

and third missionary journeys in Acts chapter 13 through 20.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

But the challenges in Acts chapter 2 are different from the challenges we're going to see when

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Paul is taking the gospel to different places.

Now as we think this morning and set up our class in Acts chapter 2, would you agree with

Acts 2 · chapter mention

me that it is a challenge to share our faith?

Why do you think?

Why is sharing our faith such a challenge?

Let me ask you, do you believe it?

Do you believe it's true?

The things, the foundation upon which you stand, do you believe what Peter preaches

in Acts chapter 2, that Jesus died, was buried, he died for our sins and that he rose again

Acts 2 · chapter mention

and that he lives forevermore at the Father's right hand, do you believe that?

Are you convicted it's true?

Are you resting your life on it being true?

So why the challenge?

Without brow-beating, I'm searching because I struggle with it too.

Why do we struggle?

Okay, yeah, and so often, you know, politics and religion are thrown in the same bucket.

The things that you just don't talk about in polite conversation.

So we're afraid of confrontation.

I think there's a general sense in which that's true.

We just don't like it.

Roger, what were you going to say?

Afraid of rejection.

I think that's fair.

Non-confrontational.

Yeah, yeah, even, even the most softly way of presenting that, that it's going to cause

somebody to what, not like us or to not want anything more to do with us, I think that's

fair.

Yeah, Joey.

We may not be challenged to share it, but we've become less likely to share it over

time because we feel like nobody wants to hear it or want to know it.

Yeah, not every time you swing, do you make contact?

You know, sometimes you feel like you strike out.

Harry, and then we'll come over to you, Kevin.

I feel inadequate.

If I try, I mean, what a responsibility to share the good news of our salvation.

What if I mess it up?

Okay.

It does.

So how does that become a challenge?

If Jesus, our example, the one who's doing it, did that, and we know that he did that,

we know that we're to walk in his steps, we're to walk after him, Luke 9, 23, 1 Corinthians

11 and verse 1.

Why don't we?

Relationships.

Okay, it's going to wreck or impact in some way our relationships, there's no doubt about

it.

Now, a lot of the answers revolve around what?

Fear.

Is that, is that legitimate?

That we feel fear?

Yes.

Sure it is.

Now, I compiled a list, I think that a lot of them, I think this was a lot like what

Brother Harry said.

We feel ill-equipped.

Now, here's something I believe that, and I've seen, and I don't think it's just because

I'm a preacher, I've watched others do it in Bible studies.

You know more than you think you do.

You know, I don't know how much is osmosis, but you've been sitting in the assemblies

and you've been hearing it, and okay, yeah, sure, maybe you don't know where the book,

the chapter, and the verse is.

But a lot of times, it's incredible.

You pray about this, you've been preparing for years for this, and it is, there is something

about how you can, in those moments, you can recall at least the concept.

And folks aren't going to grade you harshly if you can't pick it out right there, but

what you can say is, I'll find exactly where it is, and I'll show you, and then go and

do that, right?

So, but we've got, we've got work to do in order to get ourselves better equipped.

We aren't going to stay content in that.

We're going to give diligence to make ourselves a worker approved unto God who doesn't need

to be ashamed.

And in 1 Peter 3, 15, we can give an answer when we're called upon to do so.

Yes, ma'am?

Absolutely.

In fact, absolutely.

Yeah.

And so, Ms. Doris is talking about a disposition, an attitude that we want to avoid a know-it-all

approach in all of that, and we're going to say more about that when we get into Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 properly.

This is the one that you mentioned the most, and it's so easy to find ourselves here.

Now, Paul says, don't be ashamed of me and of the testimony of our Lord in 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and verse 8, and Jesus, I mean, these admonitions are given to us because

it's such a common tendency that we fall into.

Jesus says, whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed

when he comes in the glory of his Father, Mark chapter 8 and verse 38.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

Paul says in Romans 1, 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and all of these

are, I mean, look, Paul says it to Timothy.

Timothy is preaching at Ephesus, and so preachers needed this to say, you know, God's not giving

us a spirit of fear in the verse before that in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7.

And so, it's an encouragement to us to say, attack the source of your fear.

Maybe you can go to Matthew 10 and verse 28, assess, prioritize your fear.

And exercises like this are an encouragement for us to confront that fear.

A lot of what we're afraid of, when we go and try to handle those opportunities, are

just things that we imagine in our mind.

We're doomsday thinkers, and we just imagine the worst scenario, and so often, it doesn't

go near as bad.

Now, can it go?

Yeah, sure, but I'd say that that is not the case, more often as it is, that people are

appreciative that you care enough about them, especially, as Ms. Doar said, we come about

it with the right kind of demeanor and attitude.

Maybe we have an example problem, and our walk can interfere with our witness, and if

that's the case, we need to work on that.

Paul says, sound speech cannot be condemned.

The one who is of the contrary part needs to be ashamed, having no evil thing to say

of us.

That's what does Paul say in 1 Timothy 4, 12, be an example of the believer, how?

In word.

And King James says conversation, that sounds redundant.

That's really conduct.

In love and faith and purity.

You have all these different areas of life where practicing the fruit of the Spirit can

open doors for you, but of course, a failure in that can have an opposite reaction.

But lack of conviction.

Kind of what we said a moment ago, if I'm truly convicted, then it's going to help to

encourage me when I have an opportunity to come out of the waiting room and go in through

the door of opportunities to say something.

I think about Apollos.

Man, here's a guy who didn't even have it all straight yet.

In Acts 18 and verse 25 says he was eloquent and mighty in the scriptures.

He had a passion and conviction, even not understanding everything to the full extent

that he needed to, and yet here he is out there acting on his conviction.

Romans 12 and verse 1, we're to be fervent in spirit, and so we're encouraged in that

throughout all of the scriptures.

Paul says, I know whom I believe.

We sing a song based on 2 Timothy 1, 12.

I know whom I believe and am persuaded that he's able to keep what I've committed unto

him against that day.

Being convicted that it's true, being convicted of my need to be a part of that is a step

in the direction of walking through that door.

Do we get comfortable sometimes?

Who's in Revelation 3, 14 through 19?

Anybody remember?

It's one of the seven churches, Laodicea, right?

And they find themselves comfortable in the position where they are.

And Jesus says, that won't do.

That's lukewarm.

And a lack of ownership, it's not my job.

That's a good, easy defense mechanism that we can make.

Now, 2 Timothy 2, 2 again is spoken by Paul to a man who is serving and preaching, but

here's what he says.

The things that you have seen and heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to

faithful men who may be able to teach others also.

Think about the generations involved in that.

There's Ananias who is God's spokesman to come to Paul.

These are the things, Galatians 1 and 2, that he is sharing.

Timothy is one who has received that and Timothy is to take that to faithful men who are able

to teach others also.

We live downstream from that.

And as one who has received that, then we have an equal responsibility to go out and

to share it.

Now, what I want us to see when we go to Acts chapter 2 is they faced some of the same challenges

Acts 2 · chapter mention

that we face.

And how they handled that are ways that we can handle it today.

The first challenge that we have is reaching a diverse audience.

Now these glasses were in that coat in the dryer, so I hope they cooled off enough for

me to use them to read.

Y'all turn with me to Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Yes, they are.

Acts 2, and we're going to pick up with the text there.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled

the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the

Spirit gave them utterance.

And now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one

was hearing them speak in his own language.

And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all those who are speaking Galileans?

And how is it that we hear each one of us in his own native language?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus

and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and

visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling

in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

So there's a diverse audience that's gathered together on this occasion.

And I recognize there are things different from our circumstances today.

I mean the way the door gets opened in the first place, different than don't expect tongues

to fall on you and you go out and speak Russian with a Russian which you've never studied

Russian before.

So I get that there are some things that don't correspond.

But it's what happens, you take that out of the way and the things that are overcome with

a completed revelation, that's why they're doing this miracle, is so that they can prove

that the message that they're speaking is true.

It's an attention getter and we'll say that there are ways for us to be able to do that.

Sometimes the attention is based on something happening in someone's life.

The door opens.

So this is the door opening.

How do doors open for us?

Okay, perhaps if we hear it preached, you know, we have a TV program, a lot of folks,

we didn't realize it, a lot of folks locally are watching that.

We have conversations about that all the time.

We had one the other night.

And it's a door of opportunity.

That's one way the door opens.

How else does it open?

Friendships.

Probably the predominant way it's going to happen.

And in that subset, maybe that door opens because we have formed a friendship and somebody's

struggling.

They're in a time of need.

They're hurting.

There's a life change that's happened.

People get married.

People have children.

All of these are the doors that open.

It's different in a sense, obviously, from the tongues.

But it's a way for the door to open.

But what I want to focus on in this point is this is a diverse group.

Did you notice as we read through?

So as we think about that, I want to start from the positive side.

What do all these folks have in common?

Look at the text we just saw in Acts 2, 1-11.

What are some things you'd say that they had in common together?

They're all devout.

They're religious people.

Okay, that's definitely one.

They're all Jews on this occasion.

They're gathered for a Jewish feast.

Anything else?

They're all in the same place.

I mean, that's significant, right?

They're right there before them where the opportunity is happening.

What else?

They all witnessed the same thing.

They were seeking teaching, all of them.

They had an open heart.

Now, they weren't ready for that teaching.

They thought they were going to get a different lesson that day.

They reacted.

Look at verse 7.

They were attentive.

All right, so there were some things they had in common.

Now, here's the question.

What was different about them?

How did they differ from one another?

Okay, they had different languages.

What else?

Different nationalities, geography, background.

All right, you had both genders.

There are some assumptions we could make.

They're of different ages, one from another.

And a lot of this, as we flesh out the book of Acts, we're going to see this.

I mean, suddenly, there are Grecian women in Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

Somewhere between Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 5,

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 5 · chapter mention

those women obeyed the gospel.

And so you have all these differences.

Now, we find ourselves with the same challenge today.

Now, I want you to just take our class for just a moment as an example of this.

I think it represents the community pretty well.

What's different about us among ourselves?

We'll get to commonalities in a minute.

But first, let's deal with the differences.

What's different?

Different ages.

That may be a favorable or unfavorable comparison in your mind.

I don't know.

What else?

Income and training.

Income and training.

Our backgrounds.

Age, race, education, economics, marital status, level of interest,

level of involvement, gender.

All right, what do we have in common?

OK, a common purpose in being in this room, to worship God.

By the way, that's also Pentecost.

A desire to learn.

We assume.

We can only know so much.

We all chose to be here.

OK.

Anything else we got in common?

Boy, we sound like a really nice group.

We speak the same language.

OK, by and large.

I'm looking for Masa.

I don't see him in here.

By and large, that's true.

We share the same culture.

OK.

Yeah, not.

We don't know if we can stand on that.

Majority of us are Christians.

OK, boy, we are a great group.

Anything else we got in common?

Thank you, Harold.

Gold star.

I'll get you that after class.

We're all sinners.

And I want to get it down on this level and not even just the sin part.

That's where we got to begin.

That's going to help with Miss Doris's counsel to us in our approach to other

people.

We all, they may not be the same.

We all have fears.

We all have desires.

We all have needs.

We all have motives that drive us to do what we do.

Now, all I'm saying is as we approach the opportunities to share the gospel,

it's good for us to realize that the people that we encounter and we want to

share the good news with are people that we have things in common with and things

that we have as contrasts that are differences between us and them.

And both of those things are helpful to us in seizing the opportunity.

Can you see that?

How is it helpful to realize that there are differences between us and the people

we're sharing the gospel with?

How is that going to help us?

In your mind, paint a picture maybe hopefully of somebody specific in your

mind that you'd like to reach with the gospel.

How does acknowledging that there are differences between you and that person,

how will that help you to share the gospel?

Okay, that's exactly right.

And how will that help us approach them knowing that they're different from us?

Okay?

So, I want to just dive a little bit deeper into that.

How will we do that?

If I recognize they're different from me, how is that going to tailor my approach

to them?

Okay, so having a mindset that says, I'm going to try to relate to them,

isn't it possible that we can see the same thing different ways?

I mean, especially when you're sharing the gospel and there's so much religious

confusion in the world, if you can know that some people,

and there are a lot of different reasons why we're trying to share the gospel,

and I don't even necessarily mean gospel things.

They see, depending on your background, you see life differently from one another.

And a lot of our difficulties come when we assume that people think like we think.

I mean, even down to personality.

If an extrovert and an introvert get together, or a person who comes from what

we call a good, strong, healthy family, or somebody who comes from dysfunction,

or somebody who's been scarred by life, and somebody who's maybe not been beat

up quite as bad.

All of this is going to tailor our approach to folks.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We're bridge builders.

We're trying to...

Yeah, for sure.

And that's going to happen here.

And, of course, a lot of it's done for Peter because of the commonalities that exist.

And a lot of times that can help to build a bridge for us.

When we see differences between ourself and someone else, or anticipate that,

it will help us to practice empathy.

It will help us to put the interests and the needs of the other person above ourselves.

It'll be the default position that we try to approach this, Philippians 2, 3, and 4.

Help us with practicing the golden rule, Luke 6 and verse 31.

It will also shape our patience, and our kindness, and our gentleness.

We've got to speak the truth.

Peter, rather, is going to be very plain spoken in his sharing of the gospel.

But Paul's going to say, as we share, there are rules of the road.

And a lot of times, he describes it at the end of that by saying that they're held captive

by the devil to do his will.

Our minds can get distorted by the thinking of this world, and we come to people who are

still in that kind of thinking, recognizing they don't have the benefit of having sat

in Sunday school a lot of times, or maybe they don't have the benefit of the background

that we have.

If we have that, we're going to recognize that there are differences.

We're not going to amplify them or accentuate them, but we're going to know they're there.

To Chuck's point, we're going to also see that there are things that we have in common

with one another.

And when we find that there are commonalities, it causes us to look for common ground.

I love what Paul says to a bunch of folks where he's not starting with the Bible.

He's not even starting with the belief in the existence of God on Mars Hill.

He says in Acts 17, 26, of one blood, God made all men to live on the face of the earth.

It was Marshall Keeble who was kind of criticized for calling a man a brother who wasn't a New

Testament Christian.

And he says, if you're not my brother in Christ, I'll pick you up in Adam.

His point is what Malachi's was in Malachi 2 and verse 10, did not one creator make us

all?

And so we're coming from an understanding of what we said a moment ago, that we're all

dealing with the same basic things, good and bad.

And so we're going to approach people from that.

If we also realize that we are and have things in common with others, it'll keep us from

putting up people too high or putting people too below us.

You know, James says that if we have the gospel with respect to persons, there's a big problem.

James chapter two, verse one and verse following, and it helps us to feel for other people's

situation.

When we understand we're just fellow strugglers and it helps us in our desire to help them.

This is said to Christians in Romans 12, 15 and 1 Peter 3, 8.

But I think the principle is true no matter who we are talking about, to show them those

common traits of empathy, to weep and rejoice with them when it's appropriate, and for us

to show compassion and sympathy and brotherliness.

The first challenge we're going to face, and really there's nothing we can do about this

because it's the world, especially in America.

We're trying to reach a diverse audience.

You think about that from a generational standpoint.

We're losing the greatest generation.

We still have a few of them.

I don't know if anybody saw Gene Shalit.

Do you ever watch the critic from the Today Show?

If you're old enough to remember that, the wild curly haired guy.

He died today.

He was 100 years old.

I thought he died a long time ago.

He's part of that great generation.

There's the silent generation.

And you think about how things like technology have changed all that.

Yes, it's a challenge and how we reach out to those folks.

But God's word, the gospel, is powerful enough to penetrate through those differences.

It's a challenge.

Thoughts, comments before we move on to challenge number two.

Yes ma'am.

That's probably true.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a challenge.

Yeah, I think we do that.

We do.

We think that the people who come after us, they've gone further away from right and moral

standards as we believe it.

That's good.

I agree.

Challenge number two, overcoming audience prejudices.

We've already read 7 through 11.

Let me just add on to that just a little bit and read verse 12 and verse 13.

We'll go back and pick up the others in a minute.

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean?

But others mocking said, they are full of new wine.

Whenever we are sharing the gospel, we are trying to do so through the filters and the

prejudices of other people.

It's no different on the day of Pentecost.

I want you to look into the text.

I see at least two prejudices they had to overcome.

What are the prejudices of the people on that day toward the apostles as they're sharing?

Alright, first one is they doubted, let me deal with these one by one.

They doubted their credentials.

They said, are not all these who speak Galileans?

What's the big deal about that?

Why was that noteworthy for them to doubt the message or to hold it in suspicion because

these guys are from Galilee?

Okay, that's a great point.

They're Jews and in the district of Judea, it's a much more purist area.

It's a much more, it's mainly Jews.

You get up at Galilee and there's Gentile territory all around it and they're mixing

more often, maybe on a daily basis through commerce with the Gentiles.

And how did the purists, how did the Pharisees and the scribes and the chief priests, how

did they feel about people who rubbed elbows with the Gentiles too much?

You're not clean.

You're maybe, you maybe even say you're spiritually inferior because of that.

Anything else about being a Galilean that the New Testament tells us?

What did they do?

What do you think the main source of work was around the Sea of Galilee?

They're fishermen.

And typically this doesn't change.

What's typically the stereotype, fair or unfair, about folks who are in the fishing industry

and industries like that?

Uneducated for sure, rough, blue-collar.

And in some people's minds, they think about this is the Judeans, they're coming from all

over the world.

That's not a compliment to them in their mind.

Yeah, we're going to see that when we get to Acts 3 through 5, that they're going to

be amazed about them and perceive them to be uneducated men because of that.

We also might say about them that they talked funny, and that must have been somewhat of

a disparagement.

Remember when Peter is denying the Lord and he can't really disown it because they say,

your speech betrays you.

Matthew 26 verse 69, I don't know.

Matthew 26:69

I've lived most of my life, I think I've said this, in Virginia and Colorado preaching and

going everywhere I went, people are going, wait, where do you come from?

You sound funny.

Well, that's Galileans.

Except it wasn't a southerner up north, it was the way the northern folks talked there.

I think that just makes me feel good that the northerners had to deal with that too

in Galilee, that they talked funny.

And there's also Josephus and others would tell us that they were kind of hotheads.

They were at the center of a lot of revolts and so forth.

So here's the picture.

They're sharing Christ.

This amazing thing is happening and people are doubting that these guys can really help

them because of their perceived limitations.

You think you're going to run into that when sharing the gospel?

That people think that you don't have the education that they have?

Maybe you don't have, and by the way, in Jerusalem there's a tour you can take under the, near

the western wall of excavations they've done of ruins of the Judeans' houses.

I mean, they're palatial.

I mean, the elite, the wealthy, that's how they lived.

You didn't live that way up on the Sea of Galilee.

We're going to find ourselves sometimes facing people's doubting of our credentials.

What's the other thing they doubted or questioned?

What's the other prejudice they had to face in our text we just saw?

Toward the end?

They thought they were drunk, right?

Which is, I think that Peter shows great restraint in the way he answers that.

How does that even make sense?

How does it make sense that what's happening, because what does their assumption that they're

drunk lead them to think that these apostles are doing?

Well, did they think they were babbling?

Modern-day folks try to think that that's what's being said here, but what do they say

about these men?

We're from all these different places, and we do all hear them speak in what?

So don't try this out.

But if one were to go and get full of whatever, and you could be recorded, and you were given

the assignment, I want you to speak Khmer, or Hindi, or Arabic, and you've never done

any study or training in that, is that going to help you do that?

But that's the prejudice they face.

We say, man, that doesn't even begin to make sense that they would say something like that.

They would babble all right, maybe in their own language or with words that don't make

any sense.

It also doesn't make sense because they're saying that we're a big group.

It's the morning time.

Yes, it is the Pentecost Feast, but typically this is one of three hours of prayer.

So devout Jews, men who are speaking about God and religious things, it's not very likely

that's going to happen.

The point is that we're going to face the prejudices of others.

They were questioning their morality.

Now here's my question.

Are we going to face prejudices when we try to share the Gospel today?

Do you face prejudices from the culture?

What prejudices do we have to look in the face when we're trying to share Christ in

our culture?

Maybe it's the source of a lot of our fears, depending on how much media you consume, be

it social or traditional.

Yes?

Okay, all right, so maybe a question of our morality.

We'll say more about that in a minute.

Yes, ma'am?

Yes.

So we live in a culture where Christians are, this is the picture that's painted, are what?

Narrow-minded?

Hateful?

Judgmental?

What are those?

I mean, you know you.

Are you hateful?

Judgmental?

Now I'm going to talk about that in the sermon this morning.

We may deal with that sometimes, but is that who you say you are?

But some of that's framed in what we're saying when we share the truth, even in its kindest

forms, folks will feel judged, they'll feel guilt, they'll feel a lot of different things,

and it may blow back on us like it does on this occasion.

What else does the culture say?

Christians are ignorant.

It's a crutch for weak-minded people.

They're ignorant.

Christians are, what's the big one?

Hypocrites.

Why?

Because we ain't got it all figured out, practically speaking, because we still sin and fall short

of the glory of God.

Christians are strange, odd.

Now I think we can see this is our mission to overcome these kind of barriers.

We're representatives of Christ, we're ambassadors for him, and so God expects that we can win

people over by living consistently what it is that we're professing for them, 2 Corinthians

5, 18 through 20.

What about the Church of Christ?

Prejudices?

I can see the clock, and I know I can't go deep into these, but you know they exist.

We have to deal with those.

So what do we do?

George Bailey was a gospel preacher.

He's passed away.

He often said this, and I think this was so beneficial.

He said, what does the moon do when the little dogs keep barking at it?

It just keeps shining.

So what do we do?

We keep living that life, and as we have the opportunity and the boldness to share the

gospel, we demonstrate to them that those prejudices are not founded.

They're not well-founded.

All right?

Number three, answering objections with Scripture, and I find this very helpful.

Peter doesn't lose his temper.

He doesn't get argumentative.

He calmly answers their false charge, and we've already talked about that.

He shows why this wasn't plausible for them to think this, and as such, he answers in

the positive.

He says, it's not this.

It's the third hour of the day.

It's nine in the morning, but this is what the prophet Joel had to say, and he takes

that prophecy, and he shows how this was the fulfillment of that.

It's so easy for us to try and defend ourselves and let people sidetrack us from the mission

of sharing the gospel, but we can train ourselves to speak in the language of the Bible.

When we are confronted and we are challenged on what the Bible says, we need to be able

to give Bible answers.

I didn't go into some of these a moment ago, but let's think about some of the common objections.

Somebody will say to you, you guys think you're the only ones going to heaven.

What's the answer?

Okay.

It's good.

Okay.

You've got to keep studying.

We don't know it all, if you can't hear what Gary said.

Let me say it again.

You guys think you're the only ones going to heaven.

Doesn't matter what we think.

What matters?

Okay.

Anybody want to throw out a scripture?

Is there a scripture that deals with that?

Okay.

Alright.

See, I like this.

Give us a passage that maybe sheds light on the objection.

This is something we can develop.

We can grow in.

Anybody else?

Okay, that's a good diving board.

We've got to come through Jesus.

We've got to know what Jesus' way is, and maybe we start walking through what Jesus'

way is.

How about Acts 10, 34 and 35?

Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears

him and works righteousness is accepted with him.

I believe that everyone who does God's will and follows his way is accepted with him,

and anybody can be.

We have access to that.

See, if we think about some passages, Acts 17, 30 and 31, the times of the collective

ignorance of man God once overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent

because he is appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the

man whom he has chosen.

How about Matthew 7, 21?

Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who

does the will of my Father which is in heaven.

The answer is the only ones going to heaven are those who follow the will and the plan

of God.

It's been said before, I've told you it's not my slogan, but I believe in it.

It's not a matter of who's right, it's a matter of what's right.

Let's go back to the scriptures and let that be the determiner.

Not our feelings or our beliefs, because that's just an endless loop that doesn't accomplish

anything.

Number four, I wasn't going to deal with this sermon, but we've got to be able to present

a compelling argument, and that's what Peter does, and I just want to share this with you.

He refers to what they could know.

In verse 22, he says, Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved of God among you with miracles,

wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, which you yourselves

also know, appeal to the things that people can and should know, and use analogies and

illustrations, things that people can relate to.

He ties it to God's plan.

He says the cross of Calvary wasn't an accident.

It wasn't the result of God not seeing ahead.

It was the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God that he caused this to happen so that

you could be saved.

Number three, he establishes their responsibility.

You took, and with wicked hands, you crucified and you slew.

We have got to make it not nebulous and disconnected and irrelevant to their lives.

We've got to tie guilt.

These folks felt guilt, and Jesus is presented as the one for whom all of us should feel

guilt for his dying.

We have to be convicted that we're part of the guilt.

There's a method called the open Bible study, and I've used this on many occasions with

folks.

I know you can't see it all.

The thing that matters is that cross.

It's an exercise that you go to on multiple occasions throughout the study, and what you're

encouraged to do in that is to write down your sins.

Not so the teacher can see it.

In fact, they go the second mile and say, I don't want to see it.

This is for you in this exercise.

Write down things you have done in your past that would have made it necessary for Jesus

to die on the cross.

That's what Peter's doing on this occasion.

He also makes a claim supported by Scripture.

The heart, and the reason, here's what I want to end on.

The heart of this sermon, of Peter's sermon, is what?

Anybody know?

What's the main subject?

The resurrection.

And they were witnesses of it.

That keeps Peter from being the guy who says, I don't know the man, 40 days later saying,

I'm going to speak to everybody and tell everyone the resurrection of our Lord, and he makes

a compelling case in the sermon that's preached.

That's pretty much almost everything I wanted to cover this week.

I may clean up a little bit of that with 42 through 47, it ought to make a difference

in how we live, and that's the challenge that we face, and that's going to lead us right

into chapter 3.

Thanks very much for your attention.