Matt Delves
A slave to sin no more
(rough notes needing to be cleared up)
The church is under attack, not only from the outside but also from the inside.
There is always a real side to ministry. Often there is a mask. It is discouraging. This is a vast problem, there is an undermining of faith in the Christian message such that people get weary and tired and are tempted to give up.
The book of acts is how Christianity exploded onto the world stage at the beginning. If we were to explore the beginnings of that book we might discover the oxygen that the early apostles breathed.
Acts 1:1-5 - I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day He was taken up, after He had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. 3 After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. c The Holy Spirit Promised 4 While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The apostles wondered if Jesus would there and then restore the kingdom to Israel. Though Jesus tells them that it isn’t for them or us to know when He will return.
It is important to know how the book of acts is structured.
In the ancient world, as done by Luke, they marked the sections of the book with points of reflection
6:7 - the number of disciples multiplied greatly.
9:31 - the church had peace and was being built up. There was growth and multiplication.
12:24 - the word of God increased and multiplied.
16:5 - the churches were strengthened and multiplied daily
19:30 - so the word of God continued to increase and multiply
28:30 - Paul preached with boldness and without hindrance
F.F. Bruce - the spreading flame - shows and highlights the sections in the book of acts.
Who is this Jesus Christ and what right have you to be doing what you are doing? - a question throughout the book of acts.
Christianity spreads through persecution.
Luke is telling us in the first few sections what Christianity is in defining itself against its opposition.
Christianity insists it is different from the whole lot of other beliefs as set out in the book of Acts. We are shown what Christianity is against the background of other religions.
The world has come round in a circle such that the modern world is little different from the pluralistic world of ancient Rome.
Christian ethics clashed with the ethics of society. Why did the apostles continue to insist that there is only one way to God. Why couldn’t they just leave people alone.
What we’re the issues upon which the apostles took such a clear stand such that they were even happy to defend the message in the midst of threats to their life. They even died for their beliefs.
The message hasn’t changed and the world into which it is spoken hasn’t changed.
The word grew, the church grew. Did you notice that they alternate as they go through?
You will not get the church growing unless you get the word growing.
The primary focus is on the word spoken by the apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And God said, and God said, and God said. So the universe came to be. Then things changed and God said to them. He made a creature in His own image to whom he could talk. God spoke to them.
Did you realize that the miracle that brought Christianity to the world, it was a miracle of language? The very vehicle of the mighty works of God was itself a mighty work of God.
Has the word grown?
Luke writes so that the faith of Christians may have a secure base. That is in the word of God.
We need to be getting our evidence out into society. The world needs to hear that there is evidence.
To reject the scriptures as history is absurdity.
Are we explaining the Christian scriptures with the same level of intellectual growth?
We need to teach people to think biblically.
The beginning of Acts focuses our minds on one thing. The coming of the Holy Spirit to give us the ability to teach the things of Christ. To preach the gospel. Every one of them is under attack today.
Jesus presented Himself alive to his disciples by many truths. The evidence for this is the rise of the Christian church. The secular historian must provide an answer for why the Christian church rose as quickly and as wide spread as it did.
The message and event of the resurrection is one that confronts people who don’t believe as it provides and asks so many unanswered questions.
The resurrection is only petty and trivial if it didn’t happen.
Death is universally feared. The resurrection shows that death isn’t the end. Death has been conquered.
Jesus presented Himself alive. This isn’t the same as discussing the resurrection. They had experiential evidence of Jesus standing among them after his resurrection.
The very thing that should be number one in our attention ends up becoming a collection of notes that we can pull out when we need to give a talk. We must study scripture so that we can get to know God. In scripture we find the resurrected Jesus, His word, His glory.
Tell them to soak their minds and hearts in the word of God till they hear God speak.
For seven weeks Jesus, the living word, taught His disciples after His resurrection. 40 days. Just lend that time soaking yourself in the word of God. Renee what must be in the end a fact. If God doesn’t speak through His word, nothing else will. If God doesn’t authenticate Himself through his word there is a problem.
Our confidence in the world should be such that we are prepared to go and engage such that we wont allow our enemies, inside and outside the Church to shut us up.
