Sermon
Cut to the Heart
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christchurch.
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This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication,
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redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christchurch.
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Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristchurchEastBay.org.
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Good morning, Christchurch.
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My name is Lawrence Liu, and I am a member of the North Berkeley Community Group.
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Today's reading is from the Book of Acts, Chapter 2, Verses 1-14, and Verses 22-39, as printed in the liturgy.
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A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
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When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
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Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven,
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and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
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They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
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All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
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Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
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When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment,
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because each one heard their own language being spoken.
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Utterly amazed, they asked,
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Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans?
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Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?
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Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
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Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
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Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene,
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visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism,
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Cretans and Arabs.
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We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.
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Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another,
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What does this mean?
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Some, however, made fun of them and said,
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They have had too much wine.
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Then Peter stood up with the eleven,
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raised his voice, and addressed the crowd.
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Fellow Israelites, listen to this.
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Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God
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to you by miracles, wonders, and signs,
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which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
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This man was handed over to you
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by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge,
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and you, with the help of wicked men,
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put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
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But God raised him from the dead,
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freeing him from the agony of death,
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because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
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David said about him,
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I saw the Lord always before me.
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Because he is at my right hand,
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I will not be shaken.
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Therefore, my heart is glad,
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and my tongue rejoices.
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My body also will rest in hope,
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because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead.
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You will not let your Holy One see decay.
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You have made known to me the paths of life.
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You will fill me with joy in your presence.
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Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently
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that the patriarch David died and was buried,
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and his tomb is here to this day.
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But he was a prophet,
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and knew that God had promised him on oath
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that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
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Seeing what was to come,
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he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah,
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that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead,
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nor did his body see decay.
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God has raised this Jesus to life,
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and we are all witnesses of it.
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Exalted to the right hand of God,
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he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit,
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and has poured out what you now see and hear.
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For David did not ascend to heaven,
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and yet he said,
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The Lord said to my Lord,
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Sit at my right hand,
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until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
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Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this.
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God has made this Jesus,
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whom you crucified,
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both Lord and Messiah.
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When the people heard this,
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they were cut to the heart,
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and said to Peter and the other apostles,
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Brothers, what shall we do?
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Peter replied,
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Repent, and be baptized,
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every one of you,
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in the name of Jesus Christ,
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for the forgiveness of your sins,
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and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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The promise is for you,
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and your children,
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and for all who are far off,
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for all whom the Lord our God will call.
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This is the word of the Lord.
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Thanks be to God.
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Good morning, Christ Church.
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It is good to be here,
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and it's good to give thanks to God
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for the great time we had
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at our Soul Care retreat yesterday
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that was so life-giving.
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And I also give thanks for a wonderful spring break
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with our family.
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The week before last,
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we had a time of rest together
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down in Scotts Valley near Santa Cruz,
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which is where we're going to have
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our all-church retreat on August 27 to 29.
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So mark your calendars if you haven't already.
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I'm just so grateful to work for a church
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that values rest,
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particularly the rest of your pastors.
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I don't know if you know
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just how demanding and exhausting
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working one day a week can be.
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You're probably familiar
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with the old definition of the pastor,
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six days invisible,
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one day incomprehensible.
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But I shouldn't arm you with this kind of stuff.
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I have jokes about your professions as well,
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so be warned.
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I don't know how you feel about church jokes
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or desert island jokes,
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but I have one that sort of brings those together.
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There was a guy,
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and he was deserted on an island
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for many years,
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and a ship came by
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and discovered him, found him.
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They went on to the island,
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and they were amazed to see
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all the things that he had built
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for his own survival.
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And they saw in particular
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these three structures
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that he had made out of bamboo and leaves.
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And they said,
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you know,
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what's this first structure over here?
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And he said,
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oh, well, that's my home.
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And they said,
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well, what about this second structure here?
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What is that?
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And they said,
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well, that's my church.
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And then they said,
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well, how about this third structure over here?
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And a pained look came over his face,
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and said,
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well, that's where I used to go to church.
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But, you know,
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church and our relationship to the church
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can be tricky business, right?
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And some of us are unchurched.
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We've never been in a church building.
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We're gathering for the first time
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with Christians we don't know.
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Christchurch is their first church experience,
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and we're just honored to have you here.
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Others of you might call yourself de-churched,
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meaning you had a church experience.
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It kind of went from good to bad to ugly.
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You were disappointed by a leader,
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maybe hurt by a lack of love,
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maybe just burned out by over-serving.
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Now, some people have just felt invisible
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or unknown in their church,
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and so over time they just drift away.
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Maybe you're surprised to find yourself
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back in a church.
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Many of us, though,
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consider ourselves churched.
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But even that's kind of weird right now, right?
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We've been on a screen for a year.
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We're pretty disconnected.
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We've had to merge these two congregations
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from Berkeley to Oakland.
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Our staff has been reduced
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from 17 people down to 5.5 people.
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Many of us have had friends
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from Christchurch move away.
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Maybe your circle of friends here is intact,
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but you have an ambiguous relationship
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to the rest of the congregation,
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to the leadership of the church.
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Maybe you're just flat-out low
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on motivation right now
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for re-engaging with your church post-COVID.
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Some of us are churched,
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and so we've moved to the area
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trying to figure out
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what is this particular church all about.
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I think all of us read about the church in the news,
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and we want that bumper sticker that says,
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Lord Jesus, save us from your followers, right?
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But we have this wide-ranging diversity
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of experiences of the church,
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and so it seems fitting for us
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to ask the question, what is the church?
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What are the essentials?
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What are the non-negotiables of the church?
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What's the identity and the mission of the church?
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What are your gifts, and what's your role?
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What's your part to play in building up the church?
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And so we're looking at this book of the Bible
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called the Acts of the Apostles.
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It could also be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit,
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the Acts of Jesus through the Holy Spirit in his church.
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But this is the second volume to Luke's gospel
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that we've been looking at for quite a while now.
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And this is the continuation of the story of Jesus
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in the life of the new community
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that he's launched into the world,
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and it gives us an opportunity to see all the ways
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that God is calling us to reopen our church,
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to reclaim the identity of our church,
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to reweave the community of our church,
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to relaunch the mission of our church.
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And so hear this message from Acts chapter 2,
Acts 2 chapter mention
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which is just super simple yet deep.
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And that is this,
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that spirit-filled Christians share good news
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about Jesus Christ.
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That's the message of Acts chapter 2,
Acts 2 chapter mention
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spirit-filled Christians share good news
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about Jesus Christ,
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and particularly about the historical Jesus
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and the contemporary Christ,
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which we'll get to in a minute.
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But let me start with this,
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that spirit-filled Christians share good news.
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And that's where our story opens up in verse 1.
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When the day of Pentecost came,
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they were all together in one place,
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120 disciples.
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They'd spent 40 days with the resurrected Jesus,
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and now they're praying in this upper room,
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doing what Jesus said,
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which was to wait to be clothed with power from on high.
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And that moment has now arrived in verse 2.
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It says that suddenly a sound
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like the blowing of a violent wind
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came from heaven and filled the whole house
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where they are sitting,
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like the sound of a Category 5 hurricane force wind.
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And then in verse 3,
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they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire
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that separated and came to rest on each one of them.
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The sense of flames of fire might remind them
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that John the Baptist said,
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one is coming who's going to baptize you
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with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
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And it's the sound of the wind,
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the sense of fire that are signs
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that the Holy Spirit is this wild, untamable power.
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And what's being unleashed on these people right now
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are the uncreated energies of God himself.
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And when that power of the Holy Spirit comes on people,
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what happens?
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That Spirit that ordered the chaos into a creation,
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that Spirit that took the dead body of Jesus
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and raised him to a life incorruptible,
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what happens when that Spirit comes on a community
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of 120 disciples?
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Well, we read in verse 4 that
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all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
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and they began to speak.
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They were filled with the Holy Spirit
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and they began to speak in other tongues
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as the Spirit enabled them.
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The Holy Spirit's dancing over these disciples
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like flames of fire
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and that enables us,
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enables them to find their tongue,
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to open their mouth,
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to speak words,
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to utter rational, intelligent, articulate,
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meaningful information
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that everybody can understand
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and finds relevant to their lives.
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This is so important
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because many of us expect
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that the Holy Spirit,
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when he comes on our lives,
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is going to turn the whole thing
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into this marvel, superhero,
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pyrotechnical action film.
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But what actually happens
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when the Holy Spirit comes
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is a ministry of speaking.
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When the Holy Spirit comes,
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there's a ministry of words.
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When the Holy Spirit comes,
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guess what?
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There's a long sermon with Scripture.
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I know, that's not very exciting.
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But what are they talking about?
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In verse 11, it says,
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we hear them declaring
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the wonderful works of God
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in our own tongues.
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Some of you are reading a book
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called The Wonderful Works of God.
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We hear them declaring
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the intervening actions,
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the saving deeds of God
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who's come to his beloved yet broken
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and ruined and fallen creation
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to make it into a new creation.
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You see, when the Holy Spirit comes,
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evangelism happens.
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And what I want to convince you of this morning
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is that everybody is an evangelist.
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Everyone you meet in the Bay Area
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is evangelizing good news
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to try to win converts.
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This is particularly true
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in our consumer culture
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where we're just shamelessly
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yet subtly evangelized all the time.
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You read a magazine,
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you browse the internet,
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you watch TV,
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you drive down the freeway.
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And we get these messages that say,
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you cannot have joy without this.
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You cannot have a good life without that.
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This is from Guy Kawasaki,
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who was the former chief evangelist
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of Apple Computer,
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the father of evangelism marketing.
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He says,
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the starting point of evangelism
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is having a great thing to evangelize,
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a cause that seizes the moral high ground.
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It is a product or service
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that improves the lives of people,
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ends bad things,
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or perpetuates good things.
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You ever found a product or service like that?
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Did you ever think,
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this will change the world,
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this will make your life better.
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And did you ever share that with somebody else?
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You're an evangelist.
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I was walking out of sports space
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the other day,
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an activist said,
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hey, you got five minutes
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to save the environment.
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That was an evangelist.
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You say to your friends and family,
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hey, have you read this?
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Have you seen that?
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Have you eaten here?
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Have you traveled there?
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Whether your good news is Burning Man,
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the keto diet,
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Peloton,
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Gwyneth Paltrow Goop,
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whatever the wellness industry experiences
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are promising you
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to make you strong and pure and beautiful,
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that's all evangelism.
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And what is it for you?
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What are you so excited about
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you had to share?
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One of you recently said,
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you got to get on Ting Mobile.
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You've got to buy Olukai sandals.
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It'll change your life.
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You need to read this Matthew Walker book
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on why we sleep.
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You should do this life hack
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on cutting back on your email.
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I remember reading a few years back
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this article in The New Yorker
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called Sacred Grounds,
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The New Coffee Evangelist.
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And it said,
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in 1966,
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a second generation coffee roaster
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from Holland,
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Alfred Peet,
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opened Peet's Coffee and Tea,
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Incorporated in North Berkeley,
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just one block down that way,
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which might have been
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the first evangelical cafe in America,
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aiming not just to serve its customers,
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but also to enlighten them.
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Pete, who died in 2007,
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viewed typical American coffee
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as not merely bad,
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but wrong,
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overbrewed and under-roasted.
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Guided by his edicts,
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locals could learn to drink
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a richer, more alkaline form of coffee.
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Among his fans
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were three young men in Seattle
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who bought Peet's Beans
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for the coffee shop
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they opened there in 1971
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called Starbucks.
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The tradition of coffee evangelism,
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epitomized by Alfred Peet,
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can seem in its clumsier expressions,
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capricious or even pernicious,
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a small cabal
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of self-appointed experts
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telling everyone else
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that they are doing it wrong.
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But fifth-generation coffee farmer
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ate a battle,
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resists snobbery,
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as any good evangelist must.
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She thinks that coffee salvation
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should be available
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to anyone who seeks it.
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We're all evangelizing good news.
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We're all trying to win converts.
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But the good news
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that the Holy Spirit brings
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is better than computers
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and is better than coffee.
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And what we read about
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in verse 37
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is when the people
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heard this good news,
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they were cut to the heart.
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They say, ouch,
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that doesn't sound like good news.
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But actually,
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we've now penetrated
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beyond the superficial.
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We've now gotten beneath the surface
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down to the real stuff,
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down to the heart,
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down to what matters the most.
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The Holy Spirit brings an evangel.
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He brings the good news
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that speaks to our deepest problem,
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our deepest need,
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that none of these other good newses
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can even touch
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or even get close
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to satisfying.
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So what I want you to see
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is that spirit-filled Christians,
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they share good news.
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And when they share good news,
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that news is about Jesus Christ.
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That news is about
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the historical Jesus
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and the contemporary Christ.
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First, let me say something
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about the historical Jesus.
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We notice in this story
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that it's not just the leaders
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who are speaking the good news.
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It's all the whole community
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of 120 disciples.
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The Holy Spirit gifts everybody
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the ability to speak the good news.
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But then eventually,
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one person steps to the microphone.
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And we read in verse 14,
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Peter stood up with the 11,
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raised his voice,
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and addressed the crowd.
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And this, remember,
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is the guy who failed Jesus the most.
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Right?
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And if I'm Jesus,
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I'm like,
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hey pal,
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you're off the team.
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And Jesus is like,
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no, you're the captain.
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You're now the spokesman.
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Jesus loves to empower
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the worst failures among us.
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And Peter just becomes,
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as we'll see,
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he becomes this man on fire.
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And so,
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he gives this little preamble
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and he says,
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okay, first of all,
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we're not drunk.
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We're just under the influence
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of the Holy Spirit.
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But then when he finishes
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the preamble
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and he begins
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the first Christian sermon
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ever preached on Pentecost,
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what does Peter say?
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He says in verse 22,
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people of Israel,
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listen to this,
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Jesus of Nazareth.
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Every good sermon is about that.
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Every good sermon is about
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the person and work of Jesus
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because Christianity begins
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and ends with the word
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and the name Jesus.
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And Peter then carefully unpacks
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the history of Jesus in stages.
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First, he talks about
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the life of Jesus.
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And he says in verse 22,
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Jesus of Nazareth
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was a man accredited by God
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to you by miracles,
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wonders, and signs,
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which God did among you
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through him
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as you yourselves know.
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Jesus is a real,
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genuine,
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flesh and blood human being.
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Peter affirms Jesus' divinity,
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but never at the expense
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of his humanity.
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And this is the thing
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that baffles the mind.
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How is it that this Jesus
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can be the God-man?
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How can he be man and God
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at the same time?
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But Peter says,
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I don't know,
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but he is.
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And when he came,
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he did wonderful things.
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He fed the hungry,
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he healed the sick,
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he raised the dead,
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he cast out evil,
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he forgave sins.
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And when he did that,
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he was making people whole
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in body and soul.
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He was putting the world right,
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bringing heaven down to earth
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as signs that the reign
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and the rule of the kingdom of God
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is here in and through
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this man, Jesus.
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And Peter not only talks about
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the life of Jesus,
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but he talks about
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the death of Jesus.
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And he says in verse 23,
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this man was handed over to you
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by God's deliberate plan
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and foreknowledge,
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and you,
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with the help of wicked men,
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put him to death
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by nailing him to the cross.
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In other words,
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Jesus' crucifixion
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is equally attributed
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to the wickedness
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of human beings
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and to the eternal purpose
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of God.
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Meaning that his cross
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was not an accident.
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His cross
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came out of a covenant commitment
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between the Father, Son,
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and Holy Spirit
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to say,
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we are sending Jesus.
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And Jesus is going to stand
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in their place
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and bear their sins
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and take their curse
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and die their death.
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All of that judgment
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and condemnation
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that was heaping up on us
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because we were breaking
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the law of love,
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because we owed so many debts
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to the law of love.
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Jesus said,
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I'm going to take that
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as my own.
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And that's why he died.
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Peter talks about
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the life of Jesus,
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the death of Jesus,
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and then he talks about
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the resurrection of Jesus
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in verse 24.
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But God raised him from the dead,
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freeing him from the agony of death
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because it was impossible for death
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to keep its hold on him.
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Good sermons
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help us to feast
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on the scriptures.
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And so Peter takes us
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to Psalm 16
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and he says,
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we should have seen this coming
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all along.
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That psalm says
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that the body
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of the Messiah
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would be snatched
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out of the sphere
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of corruption and decay
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to which dead bodies
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are subject.
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And that's what happened
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to Jesus' corpse.
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He's not over here
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in his tomb
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like King David
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is over there
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in his tomb.
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What happened to Jesus
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is that he was transformed
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into a new glorified body,
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the first bit
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of the material universe
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to be redeemed
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and glorified.
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In the resurrection,
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God the Father
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publicly declared
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his son Jesus
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to have accomplished
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the salvation
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that he came
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in the world
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to secure.
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And so the resurrection
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is not
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the reversal
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of a defeat.
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It's the manifestation
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of a victory
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for me
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and for you.
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Peter's talking about
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the life of Jesus,
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the death of Jesus,
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the resurrection of Jesus,
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and then the exaltation
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of Jesus.
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He says in verse 30
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that God
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made an oath
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to David
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that he would place
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one of his descendants
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on his throne.
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And then in verse 33
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he says
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that's why he exalted
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Jesus to the right hand
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of God.
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And Peter takes us
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to the Bible again,
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Psalm 110.
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And he says
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that God
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raised Jesus
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from the place
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of absolute cursiveness
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to the highest place
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of greatest honor
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and authority
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where he sits
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on the throne
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to rule over this world
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as his rightful
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Lord and King.
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Peter having talked
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about the life,
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the death,
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the resurrection,
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the exaltation
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of Jesus
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now gets to the fifth stage
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and he says
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it's Jesus
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who has poured out
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the Holy Spirit.
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Verse 33.
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Jesus received
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from the Father
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the promised Holy Spirit
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and has poured out
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what you now see
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and hear.
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Three persons
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of the Trinity
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that saturate
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every page
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in the New Testament,
-
saturate every detail,
-
of each of our lives.
-
They're working together
-
to save us
-
and to bless us.
-
At each stage
-
you notice
-
that it's God the Father
-
who witnesses
-
to the life of Jesus,
-
who gave Jesus up
-
to die,
-
who raised Jesus
-
from the dead,
-
who exalted Jesus
-
on high,
-
who gave Jesus
-
the Holy Spirit
-
so that he could
-
pour the Holy Spirit
-
out and fill up
-
his empty disciples
-
with the power
-
and the dynamism
-
and the energy
-
of God himself
-
to bear witness
-
to this world.
-
The Holy Spirit
-
brings good news
-
and the Holy Spirit
-
brings a good news
-
that does not
-
abstractly affirm
-
that God is love
-
or even that God
-
loves us.
-
The Holy Spirit
-
brings a good news
-
that says
-
God the Father
-
loved this world
-
so much
-
that he gave
-
his son.
-
That's the gospel
-
that we have
-
and we are not free,
-
we're not at liberty
-
to preach any other
-
gospel as a church.
-
We can't substitute
-
the gospel
-
of this ideology,
-
the gospel
-
of that zeitgeist.
-
We can't even talk
-
about the downstream
-
implications
-
of the gospel
-
culturally,
-
psychologically,
-
socially,
-
economically,
-
politically
-
as if that's the gospel
-
because this is the gospel.
-
Peter's talking about
-
the wonderful works
-
of God the Father
-
through Jesus
-
by the Spirit.
-
And he says
-
if you're not talking
-
about Jesus,
-
you're not talking
-
about God.
-
And if you want
-
to be talking
-
about God,
-
then you must be
-
talking about Jesus,
-
the real historical man,
-
Jesus.
-
You with me?
-
Spirit-filled Christians
-
share good news
-
about Jesus,
-
the historical Jesus,
-
but also about
-
the contemporary Christ.
-
And when we talk
-
about the contemporary Christ,
-
we're talking about
-
the one who lived,
-
died,
-
and rose,
-
who's also the one
-
who lives,
-
reigns,
-
and saves today,
-
right now.
-
And this is what Peter's
-
getting at in verse 36.
-
He says,
-
therefore let all Israel
-
be assured of this.
-
God has made this Jesus
-
whom you crucified,
-
both Lord and Messiah.
-
Exalted to that throne,
-
that position of power
-
and authority,
-
Jesus is now saving sinners
-
who cry out to him
-
for mercy.
-
And it's from that place,
-
from that throne,
-
that the contemporary Christ
-
makes promises
-
and demands,
-
which is his right to do
-
as the Savior,
-
Lord,
-
and Christ of this world.
-
And I just want to end
-
by talking about
-
those promises
-
and those demands.
-
The contemporary Christ
-
makes promises
-
that we can be forgiven
-
and have the Holy Spirit.
-
Meaning we can have
-
what our hearts
-
most desperately seek,
-
the freedom of forgiveness
-
and the power
-
of the Holy Spirit.
-
It says in verse 38,
-
the people,
-
they're cut to the heart,
-
they're asking,
-
what should we do?
-
And Peter says 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.
-
To be forgiven
-
is the great need
-
that each of us has
-
that none of us
-
can do for ourselves.
-
We've all done,
-
said,
-
and thought things
-
that we would be ashamed of,
-
that we would be
-
completely embarrassed
-
for anybody to find out.
-
It nags our conscience.
-
We wonder,
-
you know,
-
can I ever be released
-
from that memory
-
and from that reality?
-
And friends,
-
Jesus died for those sins.
-
Jesus died to free you
-
from your fear,
-
guilt,
-
and shame.
-
He came and bore
-
that condemnation
-
that you and I deserve
-
so that we could receive
-
the forgiveness
-
and the freedom
-
that we simply don't deserve.
-
And that's the first gift
-
of the contemporary Christ
-
from His throne
-
in heaven to us.
-
But the second gift
-
is the Holy Spirit
-
coming to live within us.
-
We're told that
-
it's the Holy Spirit
-
who comes
-
and He cuts their hearts.
-
Meaning that
-
the Holy Spirit
-
gives power to the Word.
-
The Holy Spirit
-
says amen to the sermon
-
and all the people
-
that their conscience
-
is stirred up,
-
their conscience
-
is stricken.
-
And those who open themselves
-
up to the Holy Spirit,
-
He comes in
-
and He regenerates us.
-
He gives us new birth,
-
new life.
-
He starts to free us
-
from our self-centeredness
-
and to change us
-
from the inside out
-
to become more and more
-
like Jesus.
-
That's what the Holy Spirit does.
-
And so the contemporary Christ
-
promises you can have
-
this freedom,
-
you can have this power.
-
But the contemporary Christ
-
also makes demands
-
and He says
-
you must repent
-
and believe.
-
You must repent
-
and believe.
-
Peter said repent
-
and be baptized
-
every one of you
-
in the name of Jesus Christ
-
for the forgiveness
-
of your sins.
-
That word repent,
-
metanoia,
-
means to change your mind.
-
Remember,
-
He's speaking to
-
this crowd
-
who has condemned
-
Christ to death
-
and He says
-
you must have
-
a radical about turn
-
in your attitude
-
toward Jesus.
-
You must embrace
-
the one
-
that you've repudiated.
-
And repentance
-
is always combined
-
with faith
-
which is implicit here
-
that if we're going to,
-
there's no possibility
-
of turning
-
from our sins
-
without turning
-
toward Christ.
-
And that turning away
-
negatively
-
and turning toward positively,
-
that's what we call
-
conversion.
-
And baptism
-
beautifully symbolizes that.
-
It's this outward,
-
visible,
-
public act
-
that shows
-
that we've been washed,
-
we've been forgiven
-
of our sins.
-
We've had the Holy Spirit
-
poured out on us.
-
That we ourselves
-
have died
-
and risen to a new life
-
with Christ.
-
That we have come
-
and we've humbly submitted
-
to the name
-
and the authority
-
of that person
-
who we once rejected.
-
And now we say
-
you're my Lord.
-
You're my identity.
-
You have my highest
-
allegiance.
-
And so Christ Church,
-
I wonder
-
what the next step
-
is for each of us today.
-
For some of us,
-
it may be to repent
-
and believe
-
for the first time.
-
For some of us,
-
we've done that
-
but we've never been baptized.
-
It may be to come
-
and be baptized.
-
For many of us,
-
you know,
-
the Christian life
-
is about repenting
-
and believing
-
your whole life long.
-
And that's just what
-
we need to do
-
is come back.
-
Come back to this
-
baptized identity.
-
Come back to this
-
baptismal allegiance.
-
To have Christ
-
as our Lord
-
and to be fully conformed
-
to that reality.
-
Christ Church,
-
our mission
-
is to lead people
-
into a deeper relationship
-
with Christ
-
and His church
-
through community
-
and for the city.
-
And that's the question
-
for us
-
in the coming weeks
-
and months
-
is how do we share
-
this good news
-
with our city?
-
And I don't know
-
all the answers to that.
-
I hope that comes
-
as we explore this book.
-
But what I know
-
is that it starts
-
with these 120 Christians
-
who gathered together
-
in worship and prayer
-
because that's where
-
the Holy Spirit came.
-
That's where
-
the Holy Spirit spoke.
-
That's the,
-
it's the gathered
-
community of disciples
-
where the Holy Spirit
-
loves to most show up
-
and pour out His power
-
as a hot spot
-
of what He wants
-
to do in this world.
-
And the Holy Spirit
-
works best
-
among people
-
who are experiencing Jesus
-
not as a mere
-
historical figure,
-
not as the furniture
-
of their mind,
-
not as somebody
-
who lived and died
-
a long time ago,
-
but people
-
who are experiencing
-
Jesus as a contemporary
-
person
-
who's alive,
-
who's accessible,
-
who's breathing out
-
His life into us,
-
His joy,
-
His peace,
-
breathing into us
-
all it is
-
that we need
-
from Him.
-
It's when this church
-
gets together
-
and the degree
-
to which they cherish
-
this Jesus
-
is the degree
-
to which they go out
-
and they commend
-
what they most cherish.
-
It's when this church
-
comes together
-
and says,
-
Lord,
-
would you open
-
new doors of opportunity?
-
Lord,
-
would you open
-
our lips to share?
-
Lord,
-
would you open
-
the hearts of those
-
who hear that,
-
lo and behold,
-
things are opened?
-
It's when
-
the Holy Spirit
-
erupts
-
into the life
-
of God's people
-
that they find
-
their tongues
-
to go public
-
with the truth
-
of Jesus
-
because that's
-
the first gift
-
of the Holy Spirit,
-
the gift of words,
-
the gift of speech,
-
the gift of
-
not being able
-
to stop talking
-
about the wonderful
-
works of God
-
in the person
-
of Jesus Christ
-
and by the power
-
of the Holy Spirit.
-
And that's my prayer
-
for us,
-
that we'd be
-
spirit-filled Christians,
-
a spirit-filled church
-
that shares news
-
not about this and that,
-
but about one thing,
-
the historical Jesus,
-
the contemporary Christ.
-
In the name of the Father,
-
Son,
-
and Holy Spirit,
-
amen.
-
For the sake of God,
-
the Holy Spirit is
-
and for one thing,
-
it was beautiful,
-
and it was beautiful to eat.
-
It was beautiful,
-
it was beautiful,
-
and I can't wait for you all
-
for the sake of God and
-
that is,
-
Abigailender Messiahyer.
-
Ha!
-
He wrote down to me,
-
the верс Truth,
-
he wrote down to me,
-
the philosophy of God,
-
the purser high power
-
and the painting of our血
-
and the mind of the life
-
of Him.
-
He reached out God,
-
so
-
the리ist leg