#The Cross - God’s answer to the mind & the heart

Friends, the the title for my talk today is this the cross,

God's answer to the mind and the heart.

And the verse that's the anchor for this talk is Acts 2 verse

Acts 2:36

36. It says Jesus says this.

This Jesus whom you sacrificed, God has raised.

This should give a bit of context.

This is Peter speaking to a crowd.

After that, the Holy Spirit has descended at Pentecost.

So he's calling them to repent and believe in Jesus, right?

So by church this is what many believers miss.

Like the cross didn't save souls, but the cross created a

people, a community, right? And like this right now, what we

are doing right now and the beautiful word that we use for

this gathering is church with me.

So if you look to even to the original word in Greek, which is

Ecclesius, which means a cold out assembly or gathered people.

So even if we look back to the Acts 236, Acts 2 is not random.

It is not random. So Pentecost, even though we're

not in a Pentecost, in the Pentecost Sunday, Pentecost is

not a Holy Spirit fireworks display.

It's the moment the cross becomes humanity, humanity.

So Peter, there we have Peter stands up on Pentecost and what

does he preach on the cross? The cross, this Jesus whom you

sacrifice, God has raised. And if we look to this verse

again, we can take away three things.

The first one is this repentance, the baptisms in the

Spirit and the instant born of the church.

If we strip down a bit more, we can take away these three

things, cross Spirit Church. And then if we carry on to Acts

242, we have this Acts 242, And they devoted themselves to the

apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of

the breads and the prayers. But I want to carry on until

verse 43. This is verse 43 right now.

And all came up upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were

being done through the apostles and awe, awe came upon every

soul and many wonders and sign were being done through the

apostles. So there are four things that we

can take away from this passage. First one, the apostles teaching

second fellowship. Third, breaking bread and 4th

prayer. So #1 apostles teachings pretty

much is the cross revelation continued as getting deeper in

the word of the Lords is the cross continue?

Is the cross revelation continued?

And then we have #2 fellowship is that the cross reconciles us

not only to God, but to each other.

Again, the cross, the, the cross is that has this beautiful thing

as moving towards, towards, to Jesus, but not only that, the

move, the cross move towards one another.

This is the beautiful thing about community, this church.

And #3 what we did this morning, the breaking of the bread cross

remembered in the century of the table.

And what does it, what the, what the table means for us as a

Kingdom of God is a place where everyone belongs that we can

come and can we can get our spiritual food is US saying to

the Lord, Lord, your bread, your blood is enough.

I'm fully content with your sacrifice.

And then #4 prayer, which means cross people expect God to move

in power, expect God to move in power again.

Are we ready to see, to see the Lord moving in power in our

remains? Are we ready?

Are we ready? So every time that we, even if

we pray the Lord's prayer, Lord, let your Kingdom come, your will

be done on earth as it is in heaven.

When we pray on earth as it is in heaven, pretty much we're

saying there's a standard in heaven that we must follow.

There's a certain parade in heaven that's happening right

now that we are green. We're praying that it's going to

happen on earth. Question is, are we ready?

Are we taking this serious? Especially times like this

church that we need to raise up. Things are going mad and we need

to be grounded in what is solid. We need to place our feet on a

solid rock and we will not be shaken on earth as it is in

heaven, on earth as it is in heaven.

So this, the simple message was this.

So it was the cross and resurrection that was their

message. Simple, the cross, resurrection.

The cross means forgiveness and reconciliation means new

creature. We are born again.

And what was the result? They see grace and power in

their community. Grace and power in their

community. So every time we gaze upon the

beauty of the Lord, every time we we, we see.

When we look to the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus in the cross,

what's the result of us moving towards the cross?

Grace and power in US, raising power in us.

But if we go back in Acts 2, if we go back to only two verses

verse Acts 431, I just remember this verse powerful Acts 431,

Acts 431. Hear this church, when they had

prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was

shaken, and when they are and when they were all filled and

they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to

speak the word of God with boldness.

Can we imagine if we keep moving towards the cross, moving

towards one another, if we keep going back, if you keep going

back to the table, stay at the table and we keep feeding from

that table. And then after that the table

that leads us to prayer because we cannot stand.

We cannot stand in the presence of the Lord and don't respond to

His beauty. But the beautiful thing about

this passage was that this was normal for them.

But did you see the word I used before?

Can we imagine? No, this should be normal.

Can you believe one? Can you imagine?

Look at this, imagine I'm using again these words.

One day we see this whole warehouse shaking because the

people of God has finally raised.

But this again, for them, this is was normal.

Normal. When are we going to take these

things serious? As I said many times here

before, I'm a Baptist. I have a Baptist background and

appreciate Alamein in a charismatic environment.

Yes, grace and power in their community.

So what I'm saying is that the early church was not built by

preference, not by a really cool music or a really cool branding

or a good preacher. The early church was built

simply by the Cross Church. Again, simple message.

Simple message even every every time you come to a Sunday

morning, my friends, the Sunday morning when the holy people are

gathered should be in an overflow of your daily life with

Jesus. As simple as that, as simple as

that. So as we keep looking to the

cross, my friend, for some the cross is only like a religious

symbol. But my hope is that the cross

for us is the center, the center of reality for us.

Every time we come on Sunday mornings to see the the building

shaking should be normal for us, for us to look for us to move

towards on another should be normal for us, for us to deliver

forgiveness should be normal for us.

For us to have the the to break the bread should be normal for

us. But you're probably wondering,

Edouard, you have no idea what's going on in my life, the things

I'm going through. But this wonderful friend called

Saint Augustine, he quoted this, this wonderful friend that I

haven't met, and he said this God had one son without sin, but

never one without suffering, never one without suffering.

So there we have Jesus hanging on that old tree, 100% men, 100%

gods. But what he was trying to

communicate to us is this, that you, you can't over, you can't

overcome sin. He got attempted in every single

way possible to say to you, to all of us, you can do it, but

you need to move forward towards the cross.

God had one son without sin, but never one without suffering.

Remember something right now. So last week we had our

wonderful space online and on site on Wednesdays as we

continue to fast as a church. If you don't know, we're fasting

as a church every Wednesday over lunchtime from 1:00 PM to 2:00

PM. So you can join us here in

person. Also, you can watch online, but

I had this moment where I was like so grateful for the unite

of Kingdom from Charles Porgens with John Wesley and so on and

so on. Friends, God has chosen the

knight of Kingdom with great revivalists in the past,

evangelists. And I have to say, these people,

they impacted my nation, Brazil, so much.

There's something special in the soil of England.

I don't know if you can feel it, but that's revivals in the air.

Catch if you can, catch if you can.

Are you ready? So then we have this, yes, we

had this wonderful moment where we were just giving thanks to

God for the United Kingdom. My friends, your history is

amazing. When it comes to the gospel,

it's amazing. It's so rich.

And as a Brazilian, I'm so grateful for for you and for

your history. Yes, God, yes.

So then we have this wonderful professor at Oxford University

called John Lennox. This wonderful brother is still

with us, and he quoted this If God simply announced forgiveness

from far away, we would suspect he doesn't take justice

seriously. The cross is God, God stepping

into history. The cross is where God takes

evil and justice seriously in himself, the God of

Christianity. Christianity does not watch

suffering from distance. He carries it and he bleeds into

the world he made so that we have Jesus again on the cross,

His blood dripping for all of us.

This is the same blood that we drink from, the same body that

we eat from. Lord, give me Jesus, give me

Jesus. When are you, when are you going

to to invite Jesus to be in your marriage again?

When are you going to bring Jesus when you can?

When are you going to invite Jesus to be at the to be at the

center of your table in your house?

When you're going to have Family Services again at your house,

your parents and your kids together?

Does it have to be something like 2 hours of service?

I know it can be painful for the kids, but something that you're

going to bring you guys together.

I'm giving practical tips, if you can call it.

Yeah, he works. Fluffy works, right?

So see your kids, they all love Jesus.

So when you're going to bring Jesus back to the be the center

of your life, your family, your marriage.

So then Sunday mornings, does it become more like you'll come

here to expect some fame. You'll come to give because it's

an overflow of your life devoted to Jesus, devoted to Jesus.

I really hope to see one day is this building shaking, shaking.

And these days is coming. These days are coming.

Jesus. Lord forgive us that we we've

come so lazy to be in our presence.

We find church so comfortable. We keep chasing not for

happiness, but you. It's clear the Christianity is

about suffering, but with that we have Jesus up on the cross

and that you we can do it. So the cross is the Bernie

century of transformation. And then, then, then we have

again another Englishman called John Wesley saying this.

The blood of Christ is the life of the believer, the life of the

believer. So the cross is not only, but

simply the moment. It's not simply the moment we we

get forgiven. It's the power you live from.

Everything from flows from the cross.

Everything flows from your devotion to Jesus.

So the cross is not only a pardon, it's purity, it's not

only washing, it's empowering. So for John Wesley, grace not

only removes guilt, grace breaks the power of sin.

So then we have Romans 66. Our old self was crucified with

him and then called Galatians. 220I no longer live, but Christ

lives in me. So the cross for us needs to be

felt and lived. We need to feel it.

But this is the life. This is where we live from,

where we get our food from, our needs from.

So with all of this being said, the cross answers the mind and

the heart. So the cross is not only true,

this is the big statement today, the cross is not only true, the

cross is transforming. It's not only historically

defensible, but historically invades me in you.

So the cross of cross is evidence.

So the cross is not only a merely how how I get to heaven,

but how heaven gets into me and you.

But did you see that I'm throwing the responsibility back

at you? Is all of us responsibility?

All of us? And as you, as you say, yes,

this beautiful sacrifice of Jesus, when you take these

things serious again, what does it mean?

It means a new power, new identity, new affection. 2

Corinthians 517 If anyone is in Christ, therefore new creation,

praise him, all be creatures. Yeah, Jesus Christ has risen,

yes, praise him all in nations. He has bought our freedom.

I'd love for us to to move to a time of ministry again.

The way we should respond is always to is always on this,

this beautiful thing where it's like.

You see the Lord and He's there with so much power, grace, love,

and you respond based on that reality, the gaze upon the Lord.

We look at Him, and then we do the first step.

So worship is about giving, as you know, but that's the

invitation for us today. So come to the cross again, not

only to be forgiven, but to be remade.

So if you want freedom from old patterns, fresh power against

sin, a new heart affection, A renewed first love, even if

you're asking the Lord, Lord, make my heart tender again,

Lord, may my heart tender towards one another.

Lord, make my heart tender towards you.

I want to invite you to step forward, not to earn anything,

but to to receive everything that Christ paid for you.

I know that moving forward doesn't.

You don't get any special anointing or extra power.

But this is you publicly saying to the body of Christ, yes, I

want to come back to the cross. Yeah, let's always stand.