Acts: The Early Church Faces Opposition

We're going to talk about that today. If you'll turn in your bibles to

Acts chapter four. Acts Chapter four will begin reading in a moment in verse

one. But we're going to continue this morning in our series of the Book

of Acts. I love how seeing the early church grows and matures and strengthens

in Jesus. They multiply. So over the last three weeks, we've seen

how Peter and John have been ministering to the church. They've been ministering in

the synagogue. Specifically, they have healed a paralyzed man which drew a crowd

of people. They've been teaching these people and proclaiming that salvation comes through Jesus.

But for our passage today, we see that the young church now faces

opposition. We're gonna see that today. If you're joining us for the first

time, or maybe you're still a guest with us. My name is Devin

Warfield, and I serve as the pastor of Children and Families and Discipleship here

at Bethesda Baptist Church. I'm so excited to see you this morning. I'm

excited to preach the word of God. He has given me a calling and

a desire to preach his word and every opportunity that I get, I love

it. It's a privilege and a high responsibility for me. So as we

think about the new Church and in opposition, I immediately think of conflict in

my life, and I start sweating because I despise conflict. I don't know

about you. Maybe you enjoy it. But I've always seen that I'm the

type of person that, even if I'm right, I'm gonna be wrong to

end the conflict because I would rather just leave or I'd rather, you know,

get along with the person if I'm if I'm right, I'd rather stand

up and say I'm wrong. Let's go get tacos. When I get in

an argument, I usually want to bow out before it gets too heated.

Now, I don't know about you. Maybe you want to stick with it

and you want to win because you know you're a right even if you're wrong,

you want to win the argument. Right. So when we come to

this passage in Acts chapter four, today opposition comes against Peter and against John,

and they stand firm on their convictions. They help us see what I

want us to take away today, which is when opposition comes against the church,

trust in the power of the Gospel. And in Jesus. Trust in

Jesus and in the power of His Gospel. Let's pray this morning, Father

God, as we come together this morning to hear your word, to study

this passage of scripture. Father, I pray that you would be gracious to

us, open our eyes, that we might behold wonderful things out of your

word. Use your word as a tool to convict us and to lead us

to become more faithful to you. Father, opened our eyes and convict our

hearts with your word. Lord, I pray that you would protect me from

speaking any error. Father, that you would anoint every word that comes out

of my mouth, Father, and change it into truth before it hits the

ears of these hearers today, Guard my thoughts and my words, Lord,

that everything I say would be pleasing to you. Lord, be with us

now in Jesus name. Amen. Acts Chapter four, Verses one through three.

We're going to break this up into a few different sections. So verses

one through theory. It says, and as they were speaking to the people,

the priests and the captain of the temple and the sadducees came upon them

greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from

the dead, and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next

day, for it was already evening. So Peter and John are here teaching

this group of people because they had healed the paralyzed man, and the synagogue

are actually just outside the synagogue, and because of his healing, people knew

him. People knew who he was. They had seen this man sitting at

the gate or the door of the synagogue every day when they went to worship,

and so they now see this man who was begging at the door.

He was seated. Now he is standing and he's on two feet and he's

dancing and he's praising the Lord for what he has done in his life.

And so the people gathered together and they're like, what's going on, Well,

how in the world did this man now walk? He was born paralyzed,

right, And so this healing of this man brings this group of people,

this big crowd of people, and Peter and John take advantage of this

opportunity to teach about who healed him. So that's what's going on just before

this verse, and really at the very beginning, as they were speaking to

the people. This group of people are the ones who are amazed at the

healing of this paralyzed man. And so you see this group of leaders,

this group of political and religious authorities sort of descend upon the crowd and upon

Peter and John, and they're a little annoyed at what's going on here because

according to them, they're the only ones who have the authority to speak here

to this large of a crowd of people. I think that's the religious leader's

desire is to protect the Jews against false teaching. They want to be the

only ones to interpret the word of God and proclaim the word of God.

And then we might have some political leaders here who are trying to trying to

calm, unrest or prevent riot from any of the Jews. Right, the

Sadducees are here, and the Sadducees were religious group who were very maybe politically

motivated. They wanted to be in power. They wanted to buddy up with

Rome and make sure that they got preferential treatment, and they wanted to maintain

order so that no one ruins this perfect relationship that we have made with Rome.

So we have political leaders, religious leaders, and we have Sadducees who

are descending upon this crowd, And verse two says they're greatly annoyed because they,

Peter and John were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from

the dead. So we have two reasons that these authorities are annoyed, because

one they're teaching, and two because they're proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the

dead. And remember, Jesus is no longer alive, according to the religious

authorities, the political authorities. We have killed that man, and so how

are they preaching the resurrection of the dead and this man who was killed?

And a little bit more. The Sadducees themselves, they do not believe in

the resurrection. They believe that the soul dies when the body dies. And

so for them, Peter and John are teaching this idea of resurrection that they

are completely against. So they want at all costs for them to stop teaching.

They were annoyed, and so in verse three they arrested them and put

them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. This

is the first record of the Church facing persecution from the time that Jesus was

crucified. The Disciples have been together, they've been praying, they've been planning

their ministry, they've been thinking about how Jesus has commanded them to go therefore

and make disciples of all nations. And so Peter and John take it,

take the responsibility. They assume responsibility, and they go in. They're teaching,

and they're still in in Jerusalem. They are teaching Jews. The Gospel

has not yet gone outside of the nation of Israel. It is still,

according to what we know of scripture, it is still here in Jerusalem.

And the Jews are upset because there's this you read later in Acts where Paul

is trying to arrest, sorry, Saul is trying to arrest people who belong

to the Way right. And so this way is developing. These Christians or

these people they're not yet Christians, but there's these this sect of Jews who

are following this man who claim to be Messiah. His name was Jesus.

And so the Jews want to want to stop them from tea in this manner.

They want to stop this sect from continuing to teach this way. The

Holy Spirit has come at Pentecost, and Acts chapter two we read that the

church is devoting themselves to the apostles, teaching and to prayer, and they're

growing in number. But as Peter and John obey their calling to proclaim the

Gospel, they begin to face persecution and realize this. The persecution came from

religious authorities, from the Jews. They weren't preaching to the Gentiles, yet,

they were sharing the good news with the Jews. So what I want

us to see from these first three verses is that proclaiming Jesus brings opposition.

Proclaiming Jesus brings opposition. And I'm sorry you won't have notes on the screen

today. I forgot to send those in on time, so you'll have to

pay more attention today and write them down through them. Maybe I claimed that

I don't know. So proclaiming Jesus brings opposition. We see Peter and John

being faithful to their call to preach the gospel, to proclaim the good news

of Jesus. But opposition comes. And you know, it's interesting, Jesus

told his disciples that it would indeed bring opposition. In John fifteen, verses

eighteen and twenty, he says, if the world hates you, keep in

mind that it hated me first. If they persecuted me, they will persecute

you also. So I think here for us, when we are proclaiming the

gospel, when we are teaching the good news to those people around us,

we should expect opposition. We should expect persecution. A Bible scholar that I

was reading this week, he says, persecution is an inevitable element of genuine

Christian faith. Persecution is an inevitable element of genuine Christian faith. So if

a Christian sees no persecution, no opposition, and his or her life,

is his or her faith genuine? Is he or she living a life that

is faithful to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who haven't heard or

haven't believed. We see here that Peter and John were preaching and they immediately

met opposition. Right Jesus said, they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

Now, I want to make a connection for you. So, and

I've been growing a garden this year. I enjoy growing a garden. It's

just a little like raised bed garden along the edge of my fans. It's

I don't know, it's probably like twelve feet long. It's not super well

and then to like two feet wide or so. So I have six tomato

plants, and those tomato plants that are doing well. I have cherry tomato

plants, you know, the little orange ones. I couldn't find the red

ones this year, but mine are orange and they're really good. And then

I have three plants that are like the big kind of beef steak tomatoes.

Right. And in the beginning, those those big beef steak tomatoes, they

weren't going very well. They at the bottom, like the blossom end.

I had blossom end rot. And if you have garden any at all,

you've probably seen that before. That has to do with a calcium deficiency.

And so I was worried that all of my big tomatoes were gonna be terrible

for the year. But my father in law gave me this spray and it

says blossom end dropt spray or something like that, and so it's like he

says, you just spray it on the leaves and until they're wet, and

you do that like once a week and it'll fix it. And it did,

Like after one week, I saw the blossom rot stop. And then

I have great tomatoes. I have a whole bunch and I'm trying to make

salsa and it's really good. So if you want some tomatoes, let me

know. Okay. So, so the big tomatoes are are producing, and

the cherry tomatoes are producing, and I'm thinking about like making you pick tomatoes

at my house because I have so many and I'm tired of picking them.

But okay, on the very end, I have a zucchini plant. Okay,

and the zucchini plant is doing nothing. It is deader than a doorknob.

It's yellow like it's shriveled up. And so my thoughts are so these

these tomato plants all on the first part, it's obvious what they are,

right, I see them bearing fruit. I see the big red tomatoes,

and I pick them and we eat the cherry tomatoes because they're super sweet right

off the vine. So I know they're cherry plant they're tomato plants. But

you know what, I never had the opportunity to verify the my zucchini plant

was a zucchini plant because it never bore fruit. Now I don't know if

that has to do with the sun or because I forgot about it or whatever,

but the point is that it's obvious what the tomato plants are they have

shown themselves to be tomato plants. This zucchini plant over here, though it

never showed itself what it really is. It claimed to be the zucchini plant.

But I've never eaten a zucchini from it, and it is dying.

Might the same thing be true of us who say we are Christians. We

profess to be Christians, we profess to believe that Jesus Christ has died for

me and rose from the dead to pay for my sins. So I don't

have to yet. I'm not telling others about this life that I have Church.

I'm convicted as much as you are that when I don't share the Gospel

with people, what does that say about my passion for the Lord's work in

my life? What does that say about the value that it has for my

life? That maybe I care more for myself my security, I care more

about my reputation because I don't want people to reject me, and so I

stay hidden, and I don't tell each person that I bump into about the

grace and forgiveness that Jesus has given me that I've experienced in Jesus Christ.

Can anyone tell at work or at food line or at school that we are

Christians. We can say it with our mouth, but can they tell by

our actions? Can they tell by what we talk about? Do we offer

to pray for people at work who are suffering, and we and during our

prayer we want to share the Gospel with them because that brings life. Maybe

we use the prayers as a door to open to their spiritual life. And

we take that opportunity to proclaim that Jesus can transform our lives if we surrender

to Him and trust in the name of Jesus. Proclaiming the proclaiming Jesus brings

opposition. And if we have no opposition in our lives, I think we

should look at ourselves and say, why so proclaiming the good News brings opposition?

But take heart, Church, that gospel power works in the midst of

opposition. Gospel power works in the midst of opposition. So if we continue

reading in verse four, I love the contrast here it says, but many

of those who had heard the word what believed, and the number of the

men came to about five thousand. So you see in verse three. In

verse three, they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day,

for it was already evening. So we see that proclaiming Jesus brings opposition.

And if we were only going to read the first three verses here,

we would say, oh, man, they got stopped. Their plan was

ruined. Then we see verse four and Luke wants to say, oh,

no, no, no, no, don't forget. They were being faithful

to proclaim the word of God. But something was happening when they got arrested.

Something continued to happen in their lives when they got arrested. If it

ended there, it would be hopeless. But it doesn't end their church.

Luke reassures us that there is hope. They struck their next and they proclaimed

the gospel and got arrested. But look what happened. Many of those who

heard the word believed. Luke wants to see that even though there's persecution,

even those are the opposition. Even though people hate you, when you preach

the name of Jesus, it is not done in vain. The Lord is

working and the hearers of those of the gospel. This passage shows us that

God is faithful to the proclamation of his word. Let's bear witness to what

we have seen and heard, and let's give testimony to what God has done

in our lives so that He can change the lives of others. I read

about this missionary to this missionary to southern and southern Ethiopia. His name was

Aberra Wada, and he almost lost his life. He told this story of

when he was in Ethiopia. He says, word came from the commandant that

the party leaders had studied my report about the work among the Christian young people.

The authorities decided I had to be executed because of my treasonous words.

The only way you can overturn this sentence in Ethiopia, said the commandant,

is for you to deny that you are one of the believers. I told

the commandant, if they execute me, I will be immediately with the Lord.

And the commandant replied, that's what I expected you to say. As

I waited execution in prison, my Savior gave me songs to sing that I

had never heard before. He turned me into a composer. My fellow prisoners

and I reveled in the joys of praise to our God. The guards tried

to silence us, but with the threat of execution, hanging over us?

Why should we be? Why should we keep quiet? Seven men came to

Christ in that prison, and we all sang together. One guard took delight

in mocking us. He would put filthy words to the tunes we sang.

One night, he patted his revolver and promised, tomorrow morning, you won't

be in the land of the living. Just after midnight, a tremendous storm

burst above us. Huge hailstones fell, wrecking several roofs, including the one

where the insulting guard was sleeping. He was terrified, pulled out his revolver

and began shooting random into the air, using up all of his bullets.

The storm took roofs off of the commandant's house and the offices of the chief

judge, the administrator, and his deputy. The prisoners in cells three,

four, and five got a soaking from the rain too. We were in

cell one and stayed dry. At nine o'clock the next morning, the nasty

guard was pushed into our cell by the commandant, who was whipping him with

his belt. Other people in the background were yelling. We told this man

to leave the believers alone, but he refused. And so God has sent

this terrible punishment on the town and prison. He deserves to be given some

of his own medicine. After the guard was finally released, he told us,

I knew that the Lord was with you. I know the way that

I should have treated you, but Satan persuaded me otherwise. Please forgive me.

We did, and several more men in the prison came to Christ.

You see this other man in Ethiope, he was preaching the gospel too,

and yet he got arrested and he had a death sentence on his head.

Did that stop him from preaching? No? Did someone who heard the gospel

through his songs and through his testimony believe? Yes, more souls were saved

because of the faithfulness to proclaim the message of Christ. So, Church,

I ask us, what is the fear that's keeping us from sharing? Is

it our reputation? Is it our fear of rejection from people? Or maybe

it's of not having the right words in the moment when someone challenges us.

I urge you this morning to answer that question. Why do I not share

the good news with people? Isaiah fifty five eleven says God's word does not

return void, does not return void, And we see that here in this

passage for today. The words that Peter and John proclaim did works and the

hearts of those who were hearing, and they believed, we cannot let any

fear keep us from sharing. The passage shows that sharing the good news,

even when it's difficult in the eyes of the world, that the Gospel still

convicts and leads people to repentance, leads people to believe. No government,

no persecution, no unmocking believer will stop the power of the Gospel. Amen,

and don't let the fear of not knowing what to say keep you from

sharing, because we see that number three, God gives words to speak.

God is faithful to give you words to speak when you're in a situation to

share. We're starting in verse five, it says on the next day,

their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annis the high

priest, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the

high priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst they inquired,

by what power or by what name did you do this. Then Peter,

filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people

and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to

a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed? Let it

be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that

by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God

raised from the dead by him, this man is standing before you. Well,

this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders,

which has become the cornerstone. So the next day the authorities bring Peter and

John out and they interrogate them, and their main question is by what power

or by what name did you do this? Okay, in the Greek language,

it's part of it is emphatic, it's actually the u part. So

it would be sort of like, who gave this authority to you to do

this? What right do you have to be teaching here at the synagogue when

the place is ours to do? The authorities believe that they are the only

ones who should be able to teach, so Peter and John are unauthorized.

They need to have proper permission to speak. So you've got government leaders and

religious leaders here questioning them. And it must have been intimidating for Peter and

John. And I'm sure many of us have not been in that situation before

where we have authorities like this questioning us for our preaching of the gospel must

have been intimidating. But what do you say in that moment? That's where

I would be afraid? Right if I'm before you know, a president of

a country or a senator, you know, how can you preach in this

word? Who gave you the authority? Right? That's where I would be

sweating again, remember the conflict. But listen, listen to what happens.

Listen, it says verse eight, Then Peter filled with whom the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit showed up and gave Peter the words to say in that

moment when he needed to defend the Gospel. So in those times when we

are are struggling with what to say, when we're struggling with this fear of

like, I don't know what I'm gonna say, the Lord shows up and

he gives us the exact words that maybe our hearers need to hear. It's

not our plan, Oh, I know exactly how to reason the Gospel and

apply it to their You know academic mind. No, don't rely on yourself

to proclaim the words in ways that they will know or they will understand.

Sure, we try to target our audience. You know, we're not going

to speak the same way to a president as we do to a car salesman

to a farmer. Like, we have a variety of different people in the

world and we need to be able to talk to them like they are right.

But the Holy Spirit shows up to give us words that we wouldn't even

fathom to talk to the people we're talking to. The Holy Spirit shows up

and fills Peter with what to say. He didn't leave them abandoned in that

moment defending the Gospel. They weren't left to consider the best human made response

to give. In that moment in faith, they confronted the authorities, and

the Holy Spirit showed up to tell them what to say. The question was,

by what name did you do this? It makes me think about when

I worked at Duke and I was in I was just in medical records,

so I wasn't you know a doctor or anything, but I knew that there

were lots of orders, there are lots of prescriptions, There are things like

that that are ordered, and oftentimes the nurses or the medical assistance they will

prepare those orders for the doctor. Right. So in the A Duke we

use the system Epic or Maestro Care. And so if a patient is going

to receive a cat scan, maybe the nurse will go into the system and

she will put in the order for a cat scan, or she will order

a prescription for a medicine. But that order is not authorized until the doctor

signs it. The doctor has to sign that order in order for it to

be valid. So I can't take, you know, this prescription of oxycodone

to the pharmacy to get filled with just the nurse's signature, because the pharmacist

would say, who authorized you to do this? And I would say,

well, I have a nurse friend, and she, you know, said

no, this does have to be by the doctor. The doctor has to

do this. So Peter and John get this question, by whose name are

you teaching? Who authorized this? And Peter's response was Jesus. It's in

Jesus name and by Jesus's power that this man was healed, And that's who

we preached today. Let it be known that it's Jesus who saved this man

from his paralysis. And it's Jesus whose gospel we proclaim to you today,

the very one who you killed. Can you imagine standing in front of like

a political authority and saying you killed him? But we proclaim him. And

he doesn't just say that, he says you killed him. In verse ten,

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of

Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,

whom God raised from the dead by him, this man is standing before

you. Well. Man that his very accusatory, isn't it. You killed

the one who made this man well? But he's alive. God vindicated him.

God raised him from the dead. And because of that we proclaim the

name of Jesus today. We don't proclaim the name of Caiaphas, we don't

proclaim the name of Annus. Jesus is Lord, and we preach him only.

In verse eleven, Peter says Jesus, This Jesus is the stone that

has become the cornerstone. And so church he's quoting saw him one eighteen twenty

two, where the rejection of Jesus was foretold. The religious leaders are guilty

of rejecting Jesus. Jesus was the one who was scorned and despised and rejected.

They said, how can we build upon this stone? Here, upon

this Jesus who claims to be God, they said, blasphemy, and they

killed him. But lo, and behold, God is the one who raised

Jesus from the dead. And you know what he is now. He is

the cornerstone of the church. He is the one that the foundation of the

Church rests upon. Without Jesus, the church would not exist. It's only

by Jesus that the Church is here today, the foundation of the king of

Sorry, the Kingdom of God. Look at this promise from Jesus and Luke

twenty one twelve. It says, 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 to proclaim that Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus himself says

that the Holy Spirit will show up and give us a response that no one

will be able to challenge. We continue proclaiming the name of Jesus because he

is our only hope. So Church, we should trust in the promise of

the Holy Spirit that when we're challenged in the moment of defending our faith,

we have to rely on the Holy Spirit for words. Don't let that fear

control you that I won't know what to say in that moment. Now,

if we aren't in our Bibles and we don't know the Word of God,

then I'm not sure God is going to bring up a good defense in us.

I know the missionary had the testimony that he was singing song that he

didn't know, but that doesn't take away the importance of being in the Word

of God and knowing his word, knowing scripture to back up what we have

to say, and the Lord will bring those back to mind in the moment

when we need them. We need to make sure we have the right tools

to use when we come to that moment, and the Lord will say,

use this one. We have to know the gospel well, and articulate the

gospel well, because lastly, the gospel alone changes lives. Verse twelve,

he ends with this big punch, Peter says, and there is salvation in

no one else. For there is no other name given, no other name

under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So Luke uses

a word play here actually in this passage. So when he when he uses

earlier in verse nine, he says, by what means this man has been

made well? Okay? The verb he uses for has been made well is

a is a word that means saving. Okay, it means saving, so

literally it could be translated. Let's see what does he say in verse nine.

He's kind of quoting what he's clarifying what the religious leaders are asking.

If we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man.

And here it is by what means this man has been healed? Okay,

So that's the phrase has been healed. Another version says has been made

well? That word there is a word that means to save, so it

could have read by what means this man has been saved? Okay? And

so surely we can see that he was indeed saved from this physical illness of

paralysis. He was saved. He was paralyzed from birth, and Jesus delivered

him from this. Jesus saved him from paralysis. Now, in verse twelve,

Peter connects connects that just as Jesus is the one who gives physical salvation,

he is ultimately the one who brings spiritual salvation. The physical saving of

the paralyzed man was a mere picture of what Jesus can do with your sins.

He saved him from this paralysis. He can save you from your sins.

He can ultimately save you unto eternal life. And I think I think

the religious and political authorities would have heard this, Oh he saved him,

what he saves them? How? I think this would have resonated with him

a really question, right. I think they would have said, how does

he save? But since this is the truth here church, we have to

proclaim it no matter what opposition comes our way. The message of the Gospel

is life giving to this world. It's life saving, and we have it.

Surely Peter must have been thinking, in his defense to the authorities,

how can we not proclaim salvation since only by Jesus is someone saved, They

say, who gave you an authority to do this? How is this man

healed? How is he saved? Peter says, there's no salvation in anyone

else, So how can we preach anyone else but Jesus. God is faithful

to bring people to salvation if we are faithful to proclaim the truth. Romans

ten, verses thirteen through fifteen. Paul tells us everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. That's a promise. How then,

can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can

they believe in one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear

without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?

As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring

good news church? They can't believe unless you proclaim it to them. They

cannot believe in the power of Jesus to save unless you share the testimony of

what He's done in your life and say, it's only because of Jesus that

I live today, that I have the hope that I do. So my

question for you today is how will you respond to the Lord today, How

will you respond to this message today? How is He using this passage to

convict you today? Are you hesitant to share the gospel with your coworkers because

of the fear of rejection, of mistreatment at work, of demotion at work?

It's going to affect my career path? Are you hesitant to stand up

for the truth at school because you're afraid of what people will think of you?

Are you afraid of afraid to share because you don't know what to say

back when they question you? When opposition comes against the church? Trust in

Jesus and in the power of His gospel, Will you confess your fear to

Him today? I asked you a question earlier in the in the message,

to ask yourself, why am I not sharing the gospel? Why am I

not sharing that I'm a sinner from my birth and there's no way that I

can be free of my sin on my own. Why am I not sharing

that Jesus is the only hope I've found in my life, that when I

believe in Jesus that he died on the cross for my sin and I repent

of my sin, that I will be saved, That you can be saved.

Will you confess your fear to him. Will you pray to Him to

make you bolder in faith and more diligent in your Bible study, that you

would be equipped to share the word of God in every situation. I was

struck by Ephesians chapter two when I was studying for this because it also mentions

the cornerstone, and and in Ephesians it mentions the church. This letter is

to the church. It's to you, it's to us. Right, listen

to what it says. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,

but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

That's who you are. That's who we are as members of the Saints

of God. If we've trusted in the name of Jesus, we are part

of that church. We're not strangers. We're members of a household of God

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And then listen, here

Christ, Jesus being the cornerstone our church. Here, the Kingdom of God

is built on the cornerstone of Jesus being the church. Like that's our foundation.

So we should be thankful that our foundation is built on Jesus having that

privilege. So in verse twenty one it says, it says in Whom and

Jesus, the whole structure being joined together, grows into a holy temple in

the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling

place for God by the spirit Church. What a blessing it is to be

part of the church, to trust in Jesus and to be founded on the

cornerstone. Are we telling people about the cornerstone so they can have a firm

foundation in their life? Paul is saying you gentiles. He's talking to gentiles

in this passage, those who didn't belong to Israel. You were outside,

but now you are brought in. You are members of the household of God,

and Jesus is the cornerstone Church. We have been invited into the Kingdom

of God to dwell in the House of God. We've been giving blessing upon

blessing upon blessing. How can we keep the good news from people who have

not believed? How can we keep it to ourselves? God desires everyone to

be saved, and he desires our obedience to tell them. Lastly, maybe

you're here today and you've never believed the gospel in your life. You're convicted

and you need the forgiveness of sins in your life. You've seen that my

life is not going well because I'm not worshiping God, and I need forgiveness

of my sin. The good news is that if we confess our sins to

God, he is just to forgive us of our sins. We see our

sin and our hearts and we say, Lord, I've done nothing right in

your eyes. I can't fix my life on my own, and I need

you to save me from my sin. Maybe that's you this morning. Maybe

your fear is surrendering yourself to Him, and I urge you this morning,

don't let that fear keep you from the best decision you've ever made in your

life, surrendering to Jesus and belonging to Him forever. If you're convicted and

you need, you know you need the forgiveness of sins, will you respond

by admitting your sins to him, believing that Jesus died on the cross to

pay for your sins, and confessing to live for him forever. Confess Him

as Lord and savior. Today, however, the Lord is leading to you

to respond today, you can do so. There in your seat. You're

welcome to come up to the front and pray with me or with our elder's

Van and Floyd. I invite you to not leave this place until you've worked

with the Lord is leading you to do today. Is it to share with

someone specific in your life. Is it to study your Bible so you'll be

better equipped to share the good news? Or maybe the Lord's leading you today

to make your life right with him, confessing your sinfulness and receiving forgiveness in

Jesus Christ. Today, whatever that is, this is the time to do

it, during this song and all to Him.