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Sermon Sunday July 11, 2021 – Activation

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Have you ever been a part of a miracle?

What if we were to have the expectation of God working through us for the benefit of others? We can be used as a conduit of the grace of God for others.

Our mission team to Montana leaves this week, and we go with the expectation that God is going to use us to bless people, as we meet felt needs and share the Gospel. But this expectation should not be reserved for mission teams, this can and should be the way that we live on a daily basis.

How would you like to be used by God in a supernatural way during your everyday routine?

In Acts 3, we read about a miraculous encounter that Peter and John had with a crippled man. The early church was just getting going and they were learning to live as followers of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit. They were living activated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We can learn Four Keys from this passage to living an activated lifestyle.

The early church was vibrant as people were meeting daily for prayer and fellowship (Acts 2:46-47). But they were still attached to the traditions and disciplines of the temple as they adhered to the times of daily prayer and teaching. Peter, John, and the other disciples were people of discipline. And I believe the first key to activation is the key of discipline.

Key #1 – Discipline

How we despise the word discipline, but nothing of value is ever achieved without it.  

In a few weeks the Olympics will be starting in Tokyo, the athletes are people who have achieved the top of their sport because of their discipline. It is the same with the Christian walk. To be used by God, we need to be disciplined in prayer, Bible reading, evangelism, giving, worship, and fellowship. Discipline is key to activation.

In Acts 3 we read that Peter and John were walking towards the temple and passed a crippled man begging for alms.  They probably would have walked right by him, but he called out to them asking for help. In verse 4, we find the second key to activation, “And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” (Acts 3:4). Some translations say, “Peter Fixed his gaze on him.”

There were probably many other people begging at that gate, but Peter saw this man and looked intently at him. We have a pandemic in the world right now, and it’s not COVID. There is a pandemic of people who just want to be seen. Not for fame or fortune, but just to be noticed and valued. I believe that the second key to activation is to really see people.

Key #2 – Seeing People

Seeing people through the lens of the Holy Spirit. Seeing people as human beings that Jesus died and shed his blood for. One of the most dangerous prayers you can pray, is to ask God to give you His heart for people. If He really did that, you would be overwhelmed with love mixed with grief for the pain in peoples lives. Let’s start seeing people.

Peter saw past the lame man’s plea for alms and saw his primary need. His primary need, and the primary need of every human being on the planet is to be reconciled to God.

In verse 6, Peter boldly acts, and God performs a miracle in the power of the name of Jesus. Through the power of the name of Jesus, the beggar was completely healed. Peter did not have the power to heal the man, the power was in the name of Jesus, Peter was the conduit. I believe this is the 3rd key to activation, believing in the power of the name of Jesus.

Key #3 – Believing in the Power of the Name of Jesus.

We cannot perform miracles or repair the brokenness in people, only Jesus can do that. Just like Peter, we need courage to boldly step in, as the Holy Spirit leads us, to be the conduit for a miracle in someone’s life. Bold prayers come from believing who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

Bold prayers come from abiding in Jesus (John 15:7). If you are walking in the will of God, being led by the Holy Spirit, you will be praying the will of God. Peter knew it was the will of God to heal that man, and he boldly called on the power of the name of Jesus.

“Prayer is not an escape from responsibility; it is our response to God’s ability.” Warren Wiersbe

The fourth key to activation is very practical, it is simply whatever God has placed in your hand.

Key #4 – Whatever is in Your Hand

Peter said to the lame man in verse 6, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you…”

For many of us, God has put “silver and gold” in our hands. We have material possessions or skills that can be used by God to be someone’s miracle.

When you give your life to the Lordship of Jesus, he controls all your skills, your energy and your possessions. Being activated by God, means that whatever he has blessed you with can be used for His glory to help someone else.

So, what are the results of being activated?

In Acts 3, we read that a large crowd gathered around Peter and John and the formerly lame man. Peter jumped on the opportunity to preach to the crowd and many people began to accept Jesus as Lord and give glory to God.

However, before the day was over, Peter and John found themselves in jail. For Peter and John, being activated didn’t seem to work out that well. And often when we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t always work out as we visualize it. Sometimes it gets messy, sometimes we wonder what on earth we are doing.

But in Acts 4:4 we see that the church grew rapidly to well over five thousand. We don’t always see the fruit of what God is doing. We see the mess around us, but God is transforming lives and people are being saved.

It is all about the glory of God. When we are activated for the kingdom of God, He gets the glory.

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Sermon Sunday July 4, 2021 The New Jerusalem

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Mountain top experience’s part 11

If I were to give you a ticket to fly first class to an amazing destination, your first question would be, “where is it?”. Followed shortly by, “what can I do there?”. We would never sign up to go somewhere without doing some research on the destination, yet this is how we approach our eternal destination.

I am talking about the new Jerusalem. The enormous city that we read about in Revelation 21 will be the eternal home of all who know and love Jesus as Lord of their lives. This is the final mountain, that all others lead to and only one person has ever seen, the Apostle John in the book of the Revelation.

Since heaven or hell are the eternal destination of everyone who has ever lived, it is surprising that so little is said about heaven from our pulpits. The truth is that people fear the unknown and one of Satan’s primary objectives is to make little of Heaven. He would like to convince the world that Heaven doesn’t exist and failing that, he would try to convince the world that it will be boring and unattractive.

Randy Alcorn said, “Grasping what the Bible teaches about Heaven shifts our center of gravity and radically alters our perspective on life”.

Revelation 21 talks about the New Heaven and the New Earth that will be after the tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, the thousand-year reign of Jesus, and the great white throne judgment. This is the final eternal state that we long for, hope for, and all creation is crying out for.

In Revelation 21:10, The apostle John tries his best to describe something that is impossible to capture and describe with words. The description of this city almost defies imagination. The earth is renewed at this stage, it is completely remade, as Jesus says in verse 5 of Revelation 21, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

The structure of the earth and the atmosphere is not limited to our understanding, it will be made new. The New Jerusalem is huge, it is a cube of around 1400 miles in all directions.  It has been calculated that a structure this size can house billions of people. In fact, easily all the people that have ever lived on the planet.

This city unites the Old Covenant and the New Covenant that God made with mankind. The twelve gates are identified with the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve foundations with the twelve Apostles.

Heaven is defined as the place where God dwells, making this city Heaven itself. Verse 22 says, “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. The New Jerusalem is incredibly beautiful and filled with all kinds of precious jewels and metals. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate fulfillment of all God’s promises.

Just like it is impossible for us to describe God using our vocabulary and things we can identify with, so to it is impossible to fully describe heaven. We also want to understand heaven through the lens of what brings us pleasure here on earth, and we simply cannot do that, because we live in a world tainted by the effects of sin. Heaven will be filled with pleasures that are infinitely more real and lasting than anything we know here in this lifetime.

But the primary joy of heaven will not be the state of our being, the weather, or the experiences we will taste. The primary pleasure of heaven will be the presence of God.

We are designed to have communion with God. God created man in his own image, to have fellowship with him. However, when sin entered the world, that relationship was broken and there was a separation that took place. Inside every human being is a longing and an unfulfilled desire that can only be met by the perfect presence of God Himself.

Being in the presence of God for eternity is heaven and being separated from God for eternity is hell. Our selfish and humanistic mindset cannot even begin to grasp what it will be like to be in the presence of God and to worship Him. In our, “what’s in it for me” culture, we have no idea what it will be like to be in the presence of the Creator of the universe. Heaven will be primarily a place filled with the glory of God (Revelation 21:23). Heaven will also be a place of service and work. God is creative and He designed us to be creative beings along with Him. We see in Genesis 1, that God created man to rule and care for the creatures of the earth.

The Old Testament references this holy mountain frequently in the Psalms and the prophets (see, Zechariah 8:3., Psalm 48:1-2, Isaiah 2:1-2 and Micah 4:1-5).

As we have gone through this series for the past ten weeks, we have seen that all the mountaintop encounters lead to this incredible mountain of God.

So, who gets into heaven? In Revelation 21:7-8, we have a clear list of people who will not enter into the presence of God. The list is quite comprehensive, so how can we know for sure that we are going to heaven?

Romans 10:9 says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Submitting your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, being clothed in his righteousness is the only way to be granted access into heaven. Have you submitted to the lordship of Jesus?