The Book of Acts - On Mission In The Church (Acts 19:1-10)

I mean Acts chapter 19, Acts chapter 19. Welcome to the first day of the Daniel fast. If you didn't know we're fasting and you ate biscuits and gravy this morning, God bless your ministry. But we're calling our church to fast for 21 days in preparation for a revival coming September 18th through the 22nd, that revival we're calling saturated because we wanna be saturated in the love of God, in the word of God and in the spirit of God. And so in order to get ready for that, we're calling our whole church to fast. We're gonna do a Daniel fast together. Daniel's fast very simply is Daniel in the Old Testament, in the book of Daniel, the Bible says that he did not drink any of the king's wine or any of the king's rich foods. He basically ate fruits and vegetables. And so I don't really consider myself to be an expert in fasting. So we've got Pastor Stovall Weems book called Awakening. We're selling it in the lobby if you'd like to grab onto that. Also just to praise God for what God is doing in Celebration Church. Today's Celebration Church is 15th anniversary. Isn't that cool, yay? I mean, we can clap. They can't really hear us from here, but I think it's awesome.

And that church has been like a big brother to us as we have launched. So grab onto that. So basically it's fruits, vegetables, water and coffee because coffee is just bean and water. Anybody tells you don't drink coffee, it's a cult, run from it, all right? So you just gotta drink it black and nasty. So we're doing a Daniel fast. We'd love for anybody, all of us that can and will and medically able, please, please join us. Love for you to grab that book to just, it helps explain the why behind the what. We're just gonna fast and make room for what God wants to do in us and through us and to us. On September 23rd is our one year anniversary. And so we're doing that revival that weekend because it's not about us. We're joining together with lots of other churches around our city, lots of different pastors from different denominations and all kinds of different styles. Most of them are bringing like their worship band with us. A guy from Jesus Culture will be here Saturday night to lead us in worship. Lots of different folks, it's gonna be awesome. And so we just need to be ready for what God wants to do. And so we are fasting just right on time for Labor Day weekend, isn't that brilliant? And then today is the fourth week

of a four week series called On Mission. In week one, we talked about what it looks like to be on mission in the city. There's a million people that live in this city. And so we wanna partner with other people all over the city for the glory of the gospel, to just join together to advance the kingdom. And we did celebrate a lot of the things that God is doing in us and through us and to us. And then the next week, we talked about the fact that being on mission isn't about where you are, it's about who you are. And just wherever you go, as you are on the go, that you should be on mission. And so when you came in today, you got this Serve Global Missions handout. I need to grab that, open it up. These are all the mission trips that we will take this next year. We go to lots of different places, it's 20 something mission trips. And the information meeting is on September, I put it in your notes, so you can look at your notes. The Global Missions Information Meetings are September 29th and 30th. And so regardless of the trip that you're going on, you show up to that meeting. We don't have applications for the trip yet, that'll come out very, very shortly. But here it is, you need to go home and pray about it

and ask the spirit, which one am I supposed to go on? And if you can't figure it out, ask me, because sometimes God tells me what you need to know. And so I'll be happy to relay that on to you. And if you'll notice, we classify these according to three different levels of difficulty. And that's entry, moderate and challenging. And those classifications are directly related to the amount of Imodium AD that you would need to pack in your suitcases, if that helps you just kind of stir the spirit in you. So we talked about that we are a church on mission just wherever we are, that as we are on the go, that we'll make disciples. In the last week, we talked about being on mission as the church, that talked about mission, vision and value and the things that we're gonna be about. And then this week, we're gonna talk about on mission, being on mission in the church. What I love about what happens in Acts 19 that we'll unpack for like the next hour is that some religious people get saved. Like some church guys get saved. Because both the rebel and the religious need Jesus, need the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so if you go to Acts 19, starting in verse one, we'll unpack this in our time together this morning. It says, and it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. Hey, real quick, if you were here with us a few weeks ago

or months ago, when we were in Acts chapter 16, you'll remember that the spirit of God prevented Paul from going to Ephesus or going to Asia. The Bible said that the spirit of Jesus forbid him from going there. So let me just say this to you, that God's no isn't always a forever no. That sometimes he tells you no, like he told Paul in Acts 16, no to Ephesus. says and now in Acts 19 he actually leads him to Ephesus the first thing that came to mind as I read that verse is as I'm praying for a lot of you in this room with fertility issues God's no isn't always a forever no sometimes it's just a different answer maybe it's that you're gonna be a parent through adoption or maybe it's just not no right now but but just don't give up on God okay just don't give up on God that God's no isn't always a forever no maybe you got to know from a job you were hoping to get or you got to know from a college you were trying to get into or you got to know from a person you asked to go out with you or you got to know I don't know what it is but but but no doesn't mean always and forever no so in this situation what God's no was in Acts 16 is now his go in Acts 19 and so he goes to Ephesus there he found some disciples and he said to them did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe and they said no we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit we're Baptists and so I added the Baptist part to all you Baptists all right welcome Baptists we're glad you're here I am to recovering Baptists all right so I can say whatever I want verse 3 and he said into what then were you baptized and they said into John's baptism so now let me explain what what happened um so these are good religious people and so Paul bumps into him in Ephesus and he's thinking man you kind of look like Christians and so he asked him did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe and notice when it says disciples it doesn't say disciples of Jesus it just says disciples so

disciples doesn't always mean a disciple of Jesus it just means that you're a follower of somebody and essentially what Paul is trying to figure out here is who are you disciples of so when he asked the question did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe and they say no then it lets him know well then you didn't believe in Jesus because when you believe in Jesus when you trust Christ as your Lord and Savior that's when you receive the Holy Spirit and so when he asked a follow-up question then in whose name were you baptized in the first century if you were going to sign up for somebody's team if you're going to put on their team colors and say this is this is the people that we're following this is the teachings that we believe then you would get baptized in their name and to baptize this means to dip, dunk, wash, or submerge and so if you got baptized in the name of John then that meant that when he was out there preaching repent and be baptized prepare ye the way of the Lord then you said we like what this guy's preaching we're gonna sign up for his team and so what Paul essentially is asking is is whose name are you baptized or essentially saying do you know Jesus do you know Jesus and they say look we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit now these are good guys these are religious guys but the problem is is that they're lost because they don't know Jesus they know religion but they don't know Jesus verse 4 and Paul said John baptized with the baptism of repentance telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him and they're thinking yeah we remember that we remember he said repent and be baptized and prepare you the way of the Lord that that John was getting us ready for the coming Messiah well Paul essentially says well he came that is Jesus so these men get baptized in the River Jordan under John and then they head on off to Ephesus to do whatever they're going to do in Ephesus and so Paul now is going to unpack the gospel say hey what you guys did it wasn't wrong at all but you you don't have the Holy Spirit because you don't know about Jesus yet so you remember that one he was preaching about well he actually showed up one day in the Jordan as as John is out there screaming and yelling and you know being crazy repent be baptized one day he just stops

everything and he says behold like pay attention heads up everybody look behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of all mankind and everybody looked over and there's Jesus of Nazareth I mean just a nobody's carpenter son and everybody's looking around like him are you sure he's the Lamb of God because I went to grade school with him I mean he's just like a regular he looks like one of us and he goes yep that's him behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of all mankind and there was so much packed into that declaration that John made first of all it's the Lamb of God now all the Jewish people there would think no no don't you mean another Lamb of God because every year on the Day of Atonement the high priest takes two lambs and on one that the nation of Israel confesses their sin and he transfers their sin onto the head of this goat this scapegoat and then he sends him out into the wilderness so that the people can see their sin being separated from them as far as the East is from the West this is a big deal a transfer of sin and then the other goat he takes that goat and and he takes it and slaughters it and sheds its blood and he goes into this little room in the temple called the holy Holy of Holies and the high priest sheds the blood of this goat over the Ark of the Covenant which holds the Ten Commandments. It was a picture of salvation that blood would be shed as a covering to cover over the broken commandments and it lasted for a year but next year you got to come back and do it again and again and again and again and again and they've been doing this for hundreds of years since the day of Moses and the tabernacle and all that but on that day when when John announces Jesus is here he says no no it's changing behold the Lamb of God like once he sheds his blood for the covering of sins it's over and done with you don't you don't have to kill any more lambs so the Lamb of God who comes to take away not just cover but take away the sin of who of all mankind not just Jewish people not just religious people not just people that do it the way we do it but every single person that would call on its name and then Jesus walks in through the crowd he gets

in the water and I have this kind of conversation about who can tie whose shoes and then he says and so then Jesus like no you got to baptize me and so John baptizes Jesus and then the heavens part and God the Father speaks out loud and says behold this is my son in whom I am well pleased and then the Spirit of God descends upon Jesus like a dove and so we believe in a triune God just one God and three persons God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit they were all there at the baptism and I know it's confusing but you know that's why we made seminaries and Bible bookstores okay and so and and and so they're all there and then Jesus full of the Holy Spirit blessed by the Father walks out of the water and then he goes out and starts doing ministry and essentially what Jesus earthly ministry was all about it was to help people know what it's like to relate to God a hundred and eighty nine times in the New Testament or in the Gospels Jesus refers to God as Father and so like in a Luke in Luke chapter 11 the disciples come to Jesus and say Lord teach us to pray and Jesus like alright here's what you do everybody gather around this is how you pray now he didn't say this is what you say he said this is how you pray when you pray this how you start out our Father and these Orthodox Jewish men would be like whoa timeout that's not how you pray you pray sovereign Lord all right Elohim Adonai that's how you start out not not our Father and Jesus is saying no no my father sent me so that you would know it's about it's about a relationship with him not just religious tradition and so Jesus primarily I mean he taught some things some other things too about how to be friends and all of that but primarily what he taught was a what it looked like to have a relationship with your heavenly Father not just know God is sovereign Lord but know him as your heavenly Father and so he also claimed to be God the way the truth in life and no one could get to that relationship except through him and so they killed him they crucified him he shed his blood on the cross just like the lamb that was slain for the covering of our sins his blood was shed on the cross to take away the sins of all mankind that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life and so when Christ was

on the cross he was imputed with our sin and paid the price for our sin and we were imputed or his righteousness was transferred unto us and then he was dead dead dead all the way dead and they put him in the grave where he laid dead for three days and then three days later by the power of God he was resurrected from the grave that his suffering and dying on the cross paid for our sin but his resurrection from the tomb purchased new life for us and so after the third day the stones rolled away and Jesus physically resurrects comes back he appears to over 500 people for about 40 days he does all kind of stuff he has he has breakfast with some guys he goes fishing with some guys that's why I believe God is you know Jesus is kind of a country guy cuz what do you do after a long dead weekend you go fishing right so it goes out he goes fishing they catch 153 fish he tells Peter feed my lambs feed my sheep feed my lambs he gets about a hundred and twenty people together at the at the Great Commission and he and he says things like Acts 1 8 to them he says and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria to the ends of the earth he says things like therefore go and make disciples in all nations teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you and baptized him in the name of the Father Son of the Holy Spirit and then he ascends to be at the right hand of God the Father that's what Matthew 28 says and after he commands this after he's lived died been resurrected and appeared to all these people gets them together and he says all right now it's your turn you're in charge and then he floats up into heaven just straight up floats up in heaven and what I love about the way Matthew describes it he says some people saw this and they praised him as God and other people still doubted can you do you know how much that takes the pressure off of me as a preacher if the resurrected Christ a floating up and ascending into heaven and there's still people going I don't I don't know I don't know I saw a Criss Angel special then it kind of debunked this whole thing So what am I gonna do to talk for 45 minutes, all right?

So he floats on up into heaven, and then he tells everybody, so go tell the world, but you can't do this on your own, you gotta have the Holy Spirit, so go wait in the room, they go wait in this room, the Holy Spirit falls on them, and they're filled with the Spirit, and then those same guys that were afraid, and that were ready to give up, that were ready to go fishing, that were ready to cash it in, because how in the world are you gonna make a living following the dead rabbi, but now the dead rabbi's alive again, and so what are we gonna do? We're gonna do what he told us to do, they're filled with the Holy Spirit, it's the day of Pentecost, they're standing, Peter's standing in front of thousands of people in Jerusalem, this same guy that denied that he even knew who Jesus was just a month ago, now he's standing in front of people that can kill him, and he says, this Jesus whom you crucified is the author of life, he preaches the most non-seeker sensitive sermon in the history of sermons, and that day 3,000 people get saved, and the Holy Spirit baptizes the church for the very first time, and then now here we are. So all of that happened, fellas,

from the time John baptized you until today, so you kinda missed a lot, and so these guys are like, really, all of that happened? All of that happened. Verse five, on hearing this, and the this is all that that I just said, on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, so these guys were religious, they were doing what's right, they were attending services, they were doing all those things, they were trying to be good, they believed that God existed, but when they heard this, they surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ. That's why they got baptized. That's the terminology that we use here at the Church of 1122. You may hear things like get saved, or ask Jesus into your heart, or become a Christian, that's all just different terminology for the same thing, but here at the Church of 1122, the language I like to use is, have you surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ, and when these men did, they knew the next step was to get baptized, because that baptism, so in essence, they got rebaptized,

because they were already baptized one time, but they were baptized in the name of John. Now they needed to be baptized into the forgiveness of Jesus, and it was a public declaration of that personal relationship with Jesus, and so that's why we make such a big deal about baptism, because we want you to make a public declaration of that personal relationship that you have with Jesus. It's kind of like a wedding band. Baptism's like a wedding band. It just represents, it's a public representation of a relationship that I have with her. That's what it is, all right? And so if I take my wedding band off, I may be in trouble, but that doesn't mean I don't have that relationship anymore, and if I just take this wedding band, and I give it to some single guy, you don't have a relationship with her. You wish, but that's not how it works, okay? That's not how it works. So, so that's a part of what baptism is. It's that public declaration, all right? The other thing is when you believe in Jesus, when you trust Christ as your Lord and Savior, baptism is also a visual picture of the gospel.

It's a representation for everybody watching as to what has happened in your life, in your heart, and in your soul. So you walk out in the water with some of us, and we ask you, who is Jesus? And you'll hear people answer, Jesus is my Lord. And then I'll say something to the effect of, upon your public profession of Jesus Christ as Lord, I baptize you, my Christian brother or sister, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now I didn't just make that up. That's right out of the book. That's what Jesus said to do. We baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And then in that moment, you're standing there with your arms crossed, and then you're standing there, and you're praying, and you're praying, and you're praying, and you're standing there with your arms crossed, and there's nothing really spiritual about that. I gotta have something to hold on to so we can get you back up, all right? But you're standing there essentially saying, all right, I am dying to myself. I'm not my Lord anymore. He's my Lord, all right? So who is Jesus? He is my Lord.

And then when you go back, one of the reasons we dunk you under the water is because the Greek word for baptize is baptizo. It means to dip, dunk, wash, or submerge. Dip, dunk, wash, or submerge. And so a little sprinkling isn't a dip, dunking, or washing, okay? It's just a little sprinkle. Now, we're not super hung up on the mode of baptism, all right, if you got saved in a desert and we couldn't find water, that's fine, or if you got saved in the hospital bed, we're not bringing like the Powerade jug full and like, you know, that's fine. But for everybody that's able, you should get dip, dunk, submerge. In fact, originally in the first century, baptizo wasn't even a religious term. It was like a cooking term. There's a first century cookbook that says that the way you make a pickle is you take a cucumber and you baptizo it in vinegar, right? And then when it dies, it goes to heaven. No, it just, it's dip, dunk, submerge. That's what it means. So that's what we do. And so there's this visual imagery. Who is Jesus? Jesus is my Lord. And then you are dying to yourself.

It's like we're laying you in the grave. You're taking up your cross, you're following him. You've surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. You are dying to yourself, and the Holy Spirit washes away your sin. There's an image of that. Now, that has already happened. That moment when you surrendered, that's when that happened, but in this moment in front of everybody, it's a picture of it. And then, based on your Facebook statuses, we hold you down, just kind of depending, you know, because that's how you really know how you're living. And then, when your sins have representatively been washed away, because again, that's already happened, then we bring you back out of the water, and it's a resurrection from that watery grave into your new life. And we make a big public deal about it, because it's like you're a member of the family now. You've been adopted into the family, and everybody's clapping and cheering, just like people clap and cheer when babies are born, when you add to the family. And when you come out of the water, then you are joining with Christ in his resurrection. It's no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. And that's what baptism is. It is a picture, it is a picture of salvation

every time we baptize somebody around here. And so, if you've never been baptized as a believer, that's why, by the way, we don't baptize babies. Why? Because a baby cannot profess Christ as their Lord and Savior. Now, we do child dedication, because that's really what you're looking for. If you want to dedicate yourself to raise your kid in the gospel, and we as a church dedicate ourself to pour into your child so that they can get to that place in their life where they can publicly profess Christ as their Savior. But if you've never been baptized as a believer, in your notes, it says baptism classes, and then there's three wrong dates, just go plus one to every one of those dates. We're just moving them from a Monday to a Tuesday, okay? You gotta be smart to get baptized around here. So, just add one to each of those, okay? So, it's the 29th, the 12th, and the 19th. We would love for you to get baptized. If you are one of the 757 people that have received Christ for the very first time at the Church of 1122, we would like for you to go to Origins class. It's just a class to help you learn what you signed up for. So, hey, I've surrendered my life to Christ, now what?

Well, we've got a class called Origins class. We'd love for you to get involved in that. That's also in your notes under Action Steps, and that meets on November 1st and 2nd. So, these guys hear this, they hear the gospel, they're baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now, what I love about these men receiving Jesus and getting saved is this, is that both the religious and the rebellious need the gospel. Both the religious and the rebellious need Jesus. It's not just like Jesus came to save the bad people, but the good people are okay because there are no good people. One of my favorite testimonies I've ever heard is by a guy named Rodney McLaughlin, grew up Catholic, he's just full-on loves Jesus and part of our church now. I was at this in-home meeting and he was sharing his testimony with a bunch of his friends, and he said, I was raised a good Catholic, and then I came to 1122 and found out no one's good. Oh, that's beautiful, isn't that awesome? And then he talked about surrendering his life to the Lordship of Christ. Well, this is what's going on with these men. You see, both the religious and the rebellious need Jesus because both of them are depraved. Both categories are wretched.

Both of them are running from God. Now, most of us run in one of two directions. Most of us either run toward rebellion, they run towards this world, say, I'll just do things my way, or we run to religion, which basically says, God, I don't need you, I can cover up my own sin. It's illustrated so well in Genesis chapters two and three. In Genesis one, two, and three, in the beginning, when God creates everything, it's perfect. God creates everything, and it's good, and then he makes man and woman, and it's very good. And when he makes man, when he makes Adam, our very first dad, when he makes him, Adam looks about, and the Bible says that he founds no helper suitable for him. So Adam's saying, hey, Lord, I appreciate the Labrador Retriever. I know he's my best friend, but it's not quite enough. And so God says, all right, it's not good for man to be alone, which is always true. You leave us alone long enough, stuff catches on fire, amen? And so the Bible says that he puts him to sleep. He takes the rib from the man and creates woman, wo-man, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. And Adam wakes up, and the Bible says that Adam has named everything that is in creation. You know, it's like bat, rat, cat, rhino, and then he sees woman, and he calls her,

in Hebrew, it means mine. Oh, I love that. Dog, cat, bat, mine, all right? And then Adam and Eve are created in perfection. So you know, they just woke up every morning, and they were just ripped. I mean, they're just awesome, all in shape. You're gonna work out today? Who needs to work out? I just eat grapes, and I have abs. I'm awesome. Man, I look good today. To the glory of God and God's like amen. Yes, you do and he looks at his wife It goes mine. All right, and then and then God wouldn't in God wasn't into a lot of rules I don't know if you realize this because a lot of people think that God is likes a lot of rules He only had one don't He only had one don't eat from that tree Everything else enjoy everything else enjoy now now he had some he had some Commandments like he told Adam to subdue and cultivate to work. Listen 20 year old men Work is not a result of the fall. God created you to work. So you need to subdue and cultivate That doesn't mean your world of Warcraft account or your Xbox That means get away from that and subdue and cultivate and don't expect God to give you a girl until you take care of the garden Amen All right, ladies. I'm trying to do my part. Okay Now you do your part modest as hottest. Okay, so So subduing cultivate and then and then he gets even and they're hanging out in perfect relationship with God and then one day the enemy shows up at the the tree of knowledge of good and evil and Twist the words of God to trick or twist Adam and Eve's perception of who God is and they rebel against an almighty God now a lot of people like to blame it all On Eve, but Adam was standing right there in Hebrew

It literally means elbow to elbow with Eve and just like so many men He was just passive and quiet and didn't lead like he was supposed to lead and now we have you know Thorns and thistles and gnats and death and dying. Okay, because he wouldn't just stand up and be like, uh-uh not for dinner tonight, baby All right, we're gonna eat something else, but he doesn't he just does whatever she says and essentially they rebel against an almighty God They rebel they say God we're gonna be God We don't want you to be God because we think we could do a better job with us than you can do with us So we're kicking you off the throne of our lives and we are gonna take we're gonna sit on that throne And so when they do that sin enters the world There's a broken relationship with God and then you actually see both types of rebellion in Adam and Eve Not only do they run they run and they become religious The Bible says that they run and hide because they are naked and ashamed now They've been naked the whole time, but they've never felt shame. So after they eat of the fruit they go. Oh, man What has happened and they're there? I knew it was breezy, but I didn't know and they started getting embarrassed and so they run from God and they hide in the garden and So many many people in our rebellion against God you run away from God and you run to the things of this world addiction money Sex drugs rock and roll whatever it is But you know what? They also do they also participate in the very first religion and they begin to sow fig leaves for themselves And you know what they're doing. They're saying hey look I can cover up my sin and my mistakes and my shame myself I God I don't need you because my religion my covering will be good enough and some people Run in that direction and it's actually a rebellion against God That your religious pursuit could actually be a rebellion against God because what begins to happen is you begin to say God I don't need you because I have a church attendance and I've got Bible study and I've got I'll sponsor a kid And I'll go on a trip and if I do all these good things God you owe me I'll put you in my debt because I don't really need you and if you begin to go down that that that road of Religion that road of religion it only ends in one of two places either it ends in despair Because you know, I can't keep doing this Because I keep breaking these promises to myself

I'm breaking my own Commandments the things I promised I'd never do and you end up just being in total despair because you can never live up To this set of rules that your church or somebody told you that the good Christians live up to or you'll go to pride And you'll think oh actually I have achieved this and those other poor sinners God I know you know you had to die on the cross for them but you probably just could have done push-ups for me and it would have covered my sin and In both cases you were running from God you were trying to cover over your sin and we still do that today We don't do it with fig leaves unless you don't like the VMAs, but we don't do it with fig leaves We but we try to come up with coverings saying God. I am gonna present me as righteous before you The point of this text is this is that religious participation makes the immoral man more moral But only Jesus can make the spiritually dead man come alive That religious participation if you think going to church, it's gonna cure it all. It's just not Religious participation will make the immoral man moral but but only Jesus can make the spiritually dead person come alive and the crazy thing about it is I Think lots of people in Jacksonville need to hear this message People that grew up in church all the time if you ask people are you a Christian? They'll say of course. I'm a Christian I mean, I'm you know, my daddy was Lutheran that makes me a Christian or I'm American that makes me Christian I vote Republican that makes me a Christian or I go to church every weekend that makes me a Christian Showing up in church doesn't make you a Christian anymore and putting your head in the oven makes you a biscuit It's not an outside-in thing. In fact, the phrase Christian can make you it can confuse us because in the Bible Christians didn't even call themselves Christians They call themselves disciples of Jesus or members of the way We'll see it in just a little while and so people can kind of say like hey I'm a Christian and believe all kind of stuff But the real question is have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? Is he your Lord and Savior? That's what Paul's asking here when he says did you receive the Holy Spirit? Because if you receive the Holy Spirit, it's because you've surrendered your life to Jesus Christ And then the crazy thing is is that say that same religious activity? That you can actually use as an idol to keep God away and say hey

I don't need you because I have all these good things in my life when you surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ Those exact same activities might be the things that stir in you the affections for Christ that help you grow in your relationship with him So I'm not saying don't attend church I'm saying don't think your attendance at church is gonna make you right before God only Christ's death and resurrection Makes you right before God and when you surrender your life to him now You don't show up here to impress him But you know that he loves you therefore you show up here to join with your brothers and sisters and praise in his glorious name Because he saved you It's like when I take Gretchen out on date night, I don't take her out so that she'll marry me She's already done that and because she did marry me Glory to God, and I love her now it the fuel of that the result of that is I want to spend time with her I want to be with her And so don't let your religious pursuit actually be the thing that you've got to repent of For that personal relationship with the Lord and so these men These men surrender their life to the Lordship of Christ verse 6 and when Paul had laid his hands on them The Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying There were about 12 of them in all so the reason that they received the Holy Spirit is because they received Jesus So when do you receive the Holy Spirit there are some churches and denominations that teach Salvation is one thing and then receiving the Spirit is a different thing That that is that is not what the Bible says that every person that surrenders their life to the Lordship of Christ Receives all of the Holy Spirit. The question is Have you given him all of you? I mean, I think there there are Christians that know Jesus that are that have the Holy Spirit But are not fully yielded to what the Spirit wants to do in you So the Holy Spirit is not like a Big gulp from 7-eleven and every once in a while you go back and kind of get an extra top-up and splash there That's not how it works. In fact, I want to point you to two scriptures 2nd Corinthians 122 Says God set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit Guaranteeing what is to come in Ephesians 113 and you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth

The gospel of your salvation listen to this when you believed you were marked in him with a seal the promised Holy Spirit So what Paul is teaching in Ephesus and to the Corinthians is when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior You are filled with the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ That the whole church every believer was baptized at Pentecost in the Holy Spirit and from that day on we have every believer has Access to the Holy Spirit now at the Church of 1122 We are not cessation a cessationist believe that when the last apostle died and the gifts of the Spirit died with them And so the problem with that, I think it's the New Testament Okay that God is alive and well and God works in us and through us and and the Spirit is alive and the Spirit is not an it he's and he's the third person of the Trinity God the Spirit and That God the Spirit if you have ever surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ lives in you That the same power that was there to speak all things into creation The same power that was there to help David defeat Goliath the same power that was there when Jesus calmed the storm the same power That resurrected Christ from the dead Now this might freak you out a little bit if you grew up in a tradition where you're supposed to stand straight and look serious All the time that that same power Resides in here and if you're not full of the Holy Spirit, that's not on the Spirit. That's on you It's just because you haven't you haven't Yielded to what the Spirit wants to do in you and through you and to you and I know people freak out about the gifts All the time. Let me just explain it this way. This helps me that in the Old Testament God watched over his people in The Gospels God walked with his people. I mean he just walk around with him and then after Pentecost God lives in his people That's what first Corinthians 6 means when it says your body's a temple praise God It doesn't doesn't matter what you look like in a bikini, but it means That's not what it means about your body being the temple It means that's where God lives that the Spirit of God actually lives in the believer and so what happens when the Spirit of God is Deposited in these men because they believe in Jesus or submit or surrender their life to the Lordship of Christ It says that when he laid his hands on them and the Spirit came on them. They began speaking in tongues and prophesying

There was about 12 of them in all now It doesn't say which men are speaking in tongues and which men are prophesying It just said both of those spiritual gifts are happening and then the Bible teaches in first Corinthians 12 13 and 14 that if you're a believer in Jesus Christ if you've surrendered your life to Christ then every one of you have at least one spiritual gift and None of you have all the spiritual gifts and all of us don't have the same spiritual gift And so Paul Paul just lays it out in first Corinthians 12 because the church at Corinth was confused about this Like a lot of churches today. They elevated one spiritual gift usually Speaking in tongues as like the most important one and so they would kind of teach it like well We're all on the same team but these guys are varsity and everybody else is kind of junior varsity or we're all riding on the same jet and and the and the These certain gifts your first class and the rest of us are coach Well, Paul addresses that in first Corinthians 12, and he says now there are a variety of gifts with the same spirit There are a variety of service with the same Lord a variety of activities But it's the same God who empowers them all and everyone To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good For the one is given through the spirit the utterance of wisdom to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healing By the one spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another the ability of distinguished between spirits to another various kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues All these are empowered by one in the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills In other words, this is not like a buffet It's not like you can walk through the spiritual gifts and be like, I'll take a little mercy I'll take a little helps, you know, I'm gonna leave preaching because that's scary, right? Verse 12 he says for just as the body is one and as many members and all the members of the body Though many or one body so it is with Christ for in one spirit. We were all baptized into one body All right So there's one baptism Jews are Greek slaves are free and all were made to drink of one spirit For the body does not consist of one member but of many and then from here for the rest of 12 He just starts kind of telling jokes

He uses his funny illustration to illustrate the truth To illustrate the truth and he says we're like one body with many parts And he starts kind of doing this. Mr Potato head thing like would the eye say to the ear i'm not worthy because i'm not an ear I think when people heard that they laughed Because the eye can't say anything because the eye can't speak because it's not the mouth And if the ear said to the toe, hey toe the toe would be like, huh? I can't hear you because I need an ear That what god is doing here is like, mr. Potato head. He's the head. He's the whole thing and he goes Okay, I need some eyes and I need to put on some ears and I need some little stubby feet And that we are not to look at the gifts of the spirit You didn't earn whatever gift god gave you but you open that gift like any other gift and then you use it For the building up of the church for the glory of his name and that god is in charge of those gifts There's one god all kind of gifts Different spirit or same spirit different gifts There are and you need to know it'd be a great idea for you to know What your spiritual gift is so that you could get plugged into this body? And that's a big part of what it means to walk in the fullness of his spirit And so I encourage you take those gifts assessments, you know You can you can get those kind of things and kind of figure out what your spiritual gift is I remember one of the first ones I ever took I I um I said I had the gift of martyrdom which I thought that's a bummer You can only use it once and then you know, you're kind of out of the game But really what's going on here It's it's not so much about the gifts of the spirit as much it is the role of the holy spirit That the reason these guys did they said we don't even know who the holy spirit is. Holy what? We don't even know what you're talking about. It's because they didn't know jesus But when they met jesus, that's when they received the spirit and the primary role of the holy spirit in your life Is to point to jesus

I mean all throughout the scriptures and in john chapter 16 the holy spirit glorifies jesus in john chapter 16 The holy spirit reveals jesus in first corinthians 12 The holy spirit leads us to jesus as our lord in romans 8 the holy spirit empowers us to live like jesus in john 14 the holy spirit Gifts us to do ministry like jesus also in john 14 The holy spirit reminds us of jesus in acts 1 8 the holy spirit empowers us to witness about jesus In galatians chapter 4 the holy spirit stirs in us worship of jesus that the holy spirit is all about jesus And so at the church of 11 22 We want to be a spirit filled church where everybody is exercising the gifts that god has given them so these men receive the Holy Spirit, why? Because they surrendered their life to Jesus. Verse eight, and Paul entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. Reasoning and persuading, it's both and. Do not fall into the false dichotomy that you either go to a doctrine church or a spirit-filled church, as if those are two separate things. That he reasoned with them, he talked to them about theology and doctrine, and theology and doctrine are important. It's important to look rightly upon God so that we can respond rightly. That's what worship is. Worship is responding to who he is and what he's done. If you don't know who he is, then it's hard to respond correctly. That what you know, Bible study,

right theology is very, very important. So he was reasoning with them, walking through the text, walking through the scriptures with them, so they would have a right understanding of who God is. Doctrine's important. But he didn't just stay there, he was also persuading, just begging them at the heart level, come on, trust Jesus with your heart. It's about a personal relationship with him. It's not either or, it's both and. It's both and. You can't just stay over here in your head, you know why? You know who got Jesus right every single time in the gospels? The demons. Every time Jesus encountered a demon in the gospel, they knew exactly who he was. The religious people always got it wrong, the demons got it right. But you know what? They didn't love him with their heart. So it's not simply enough to know. These disciples of John, they knew a lot of true things about God, but they had not surrendered their lives to Jesus. It's also not enough to just all get together and have this kind of ooey-gooey spiritual experience all the time,

and seek an experience instead of the God of the experience. You see, it's both and. See, I love my kids with my head and my heart. I mean, I love them because they're mine, because they've got my genes, I named one of them after me, right? I mean, I love them, they look like us, I love them. But it's more than just that kind of knowledge, it's also a heart knowledge. A few nights ago, Gretchen and I were putting Reagan to bed, and put her to bed, Psalm 139, 14, every night, pray over, give her a kiss on the head, and then we're leaving the room, and then we hear a little ruckus going on, and so, go back into the room, and Reagan has gotten out of her bed, and she's going to her closet, because that's where her toys are, right? And so, she gets busted, and then she looks, and she says, but I'm still your sunshine, right? Right, right. See, it's head, you're in trouble, but it's also heart, but you're mine. So, when you do get in trouble, you don't have to run from me, you can run to me, okay? That I love you, so I'm gonna discipline you, and we're gonna do what's right, and I love you, so it's not like a three strikes and you're out kind of program here.

And so, that's what Paul's doing. Paul is, he's reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. Verse nine, it says, but then some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way. Early Christians were not called Christians, they were called people of the way. They were just, Jesus said, I am the way in John 14, six, and they grabbed onto that and said, that's what we are, we are part of the way. And so, they were speaking evil of the way before the congregation. He withdrew from them, and he took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus, and this continued for two years, so that, I love this, all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord. All the, that's a lot of people. All the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both the Jews and the Greeks. Now, how did they hear? How did they hear? It wasn't because of their marketing campaign. They didn't all turn and tune into the promise and hear about this church or this Jesus. What began to happen is people, individuals, like these 12 that were religious guys, that they met Jesus, and their life was transformed. And so, they went and just told people. Do you know if one of your friends invited you here today, is the same thing happening?

We don't have a marketing campaign. And my hope and prayer is that all the people everywhere would hear about, not religion, but they would hear about a relationship with Jesus Christ. And I love that word all. You know why? Because the Church of 1122 is a movement for all people, all people, and it's represented in our baptism videos. Have you noticed? Have you noticed at the Church of 1122 that when we see a baptism video, there's a big chunk of people, and they are saved from some, I mean, some debauchery. They're saved from addiction, and pornography, and drugs, and alcohol, and abuse, and divorce, and just, I mean, some people are. saved from lifestyle choices that they've run after this world and suicidal attempts and all kinds of stuff, saved from this. And then sometimes in the same video montage, there's other group of people and they're saved from Catholic school and Sunday school and dinner on the grounds and a Beth Moore Bible study. That both the religious and the rebellious need Jesus. And some of you have been coming to church for a long time, praise God. But if you think that God is just kind of the eternal Santa Claus and he's got a list and he's checking it twice

and you're trying to get on the nice list, you need to be saved. You need the gospel of Jesus Christ. You need to surrender your life to Christ. The great reformer, Martin Luther says it this way. He says, if ever a monk could get to heaven through monastic discipline, I was that monk and yet my conscience would not give me certainty, but I always doubted and said, you didn't do that right. You weren't contrite enough. You left out that in your confession. And the more I tried to remedy an uncertain, weak and troubled conscience with human traditions, the more I daily found it more uncertain, weaker and more trouble. Is it not wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves? You see, religious participation at best will just make you cuss a little less, be a little more generous with your money. I don't know, but it won't change you. It won't save you. It won't bring you from death to life. Only Jesus can take those that don't know him, that aren't filled with his spirit, that are spiritually dead and bring them to life. So we talk about it all the time. You were not a mistake or in need of a life coach. Three easy hops to be a better version of you.

But you and I are sinners in need of a savior. And if you go back to Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve had sinned, the Bible says that God comes walking through the garden, calling out, where are you? And calling out their name. He's not asking, where are you? Because he's not good at hide and seek. He is really good at hide and seek. He doesn't need the information. Adam and Eve, hiding from them is like when Reagan tries to hide from me. She sticks her head just behind their couch with her whole everything else sticking out, giggling. Going, can you find me? I don't know, I think I can. And then she gives herself away with a giggle. I think you are not good at this game. It's how silly we look. It's how silly we look to God. When we run from him in rebellion, or if we rebel by trying to cover our own shame with our own religious fig sowing. Say, no God, I got this, I'll cover this. But the Bible says God walks through the garden and he calls their name. And when he confronts them, they do what a lot of us do. Starts with Eve, she passes the blame. Hey, my fault, it's that snake. And then Adam, you know what Adam does?

What most husbands would do. He literally says, this woman you gave me got me into this. Aren't you glad things haven't changed in the last all of human history, right? And so God looks at their coverings, this isn't gonna work, and he kicks them out of the garden. And that's his grace and mercy. That's his grace and that's his mercy. Because his justice would just squish him right there. How dare you slap the face of an almighty God. You deserve death now. But I won't require that payment right now. And so he boots them out of the garden and he takes their coverings, their self-made, man-made, religious activity, he takes it, and the Bible says that he provides for them a fur covering, which means an animal. Blood was shed for the covering of their sin. And so God, in that moment, he thwarts rebellion through running, he also thwarts rebellion through religiosity, and he said, hey, it's not about that. It's gonna be about the blood of my son, Jesus Christ, that was shed on a cross. And it won't just cover your sin, it'll actually take your sin away. It will fully pay for that sin. And there's no amount of covering or religious activity that you can do that can make you have a right standing before me.

But instead, it's gonna be what I do on your behalf, by loving you enough to send my son to that cross. And he won't just cover your sin, he will take it away. He will atone for your sin. And he will pay the full price because of my love for you. And God demonstrated his love for us in this. Both the rebellious and the religious, that he demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were yet still sinners, whether it's the sin of rebellion or religious, that Christ died for us. And then, when you get to the point where you're not gonna be religious anymore, but you're gonna trust Christ as your savior, you get verses like Romans 8, 1, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And so when we fall and when we stumble and when we sin, we can run to the Father instead of from him. And those same religious activities can actually be the environment that helps us grow in Christ and that instead of your Christian life or your life following Jesus, instead of it being about sin management, trying to grab hold of your sin and just hold it down here to try to be a good Christian, it's exhausting. And if you're really good at it, it just makes you prideful, which is worse. And instead of that, you can just do what Jesus said

and abide in me and he will abide in you. Apart from him, you can do nothing. But when you abide, when you just stay close to him, then you're free to walk in what Christ has commanded you to walk in, that freedom. You see, critics of Christianity will say things like, Christianity is for the weak. I just wanna respond, oh, it's worse than you think. We're not just weak. We are depraved and crooked and wretched. Oh, I mean, we're as weak as you've ever imagined. We're like hopelessly and helplessly weak. And so we need him. Or they'll say, you know, Christianity is a crutch. No, it's way worse. It's like a stretcher. It's not even a crutch. Because with a crutch, you got a little crutch and a little of you. A little of me will screw the whole thing up. It's like a lay flat, dead to yourself on the stretcher. It's not me hobbling over the line, it's Christ carrying me totally over the line. But then the crazy part is, is that when you surrender it all when you receive Christ as your savior, when the Holy Spirit is deposited in you, when you lay down on that stretcher and he carries you over from death to life, then you join with him in the resurrection and you get up off the stretcher

and you can finally walk around in the freedom that he's created you to walk around in. And you don't have to try to compete anymore. And it's the gospel. For those of you that are good at being good, you need Jesus. For those of you that are really good at being really bad, you need Jesus. Both the rebellious and the religious. Need to repent and surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Would you please bow your head and close your eyes just to make a little space for you to deal with just you and the Lord right now. And if for the very first time you, maybe it's first time you've heard the gospel or maybe it's the first time you've had ears to hear the gospel and you are ready to surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ, you're ready to quit running to this world or you're ready to quit running towards making your own coverings to make yourself okay before God. That you're ready to surrender. To say, God, I give up. I don't wanna be Lord anymore. I'm surrender. I want you to be Lord in my life. If that's you in this place, raise your hand and say, God, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Christ.

Those of you with your hands raised, you just pray to God. You just talk to him. It's no magic incantation. You don't have to repeat after me. You just say whatever's on your heart to talk to your heavenly Father. And it's not your hand in the air that saves you. It's not the words that come out of your mouth that save you. It's what Christ did on the cross. And in this moment, you are surrendering to him. Raise them high and say, Lord, I surrender to you. And in this moment, you're saved. New life. From death to life. Dear Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you and I praise you that salvation is in this place. Lord, I thank you that you love us enough to pursue us from the garden thousands of years ago to this moment right now, that you would walk into the gardens of our lives and you would call out to us. God, we repent of the rebellion of running and hiding from you and running to this world. God, we repent of religious activity to try to cover our sin and shame. And God, we just lay bare before you. Holy Spirit, would you just open up our hearts to receive your grace and your mercy this day.

For the disciple of Jesus in this room that needs to hear the gospel this day, God, would we be reminded that you have bought us, purchased us, redeemed us, that the performance is over because of your performance on the cross. Because of that, God, we glory in your name. We worship you and we praise you. And God, for the man or the woman in this place right now, the student in this place, that for the very first time surrendered their life to you, God, we thank you, we praise you, we join with the angels. We pray it all in Jesus' name, amen. Would you please stand as we close? Every week we respond to the gospel because that's what we believe. We believe that God initiates and we respond. We respond by singing. We're gonna sing together about what the glory of heaven will be like when those of us that know him are joined in that place. We respond by coming to the altars and kneeling and just laying that junk that gets on us at the feet of Jesus. And we respond by bringing our tithes and offerings to the giving boxes around this room or the giving kiosk in the back. Let us respond.