The Plowman

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2013 Acts #4: an exposition of Acts 2:14-40. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, June 9, 2013.

Intro:

It wasn’t that he was unaccustomed to speaking.  In fact he often spoke too much.  It wasn’t a lack of courage – in his life he had often done what no one else would dare to do.  But somehow things were different that day.  A huge crowd had gathered.  His mind must have gone back to the events of just a few weeks before when he had failed miserably.  Then his courage failed.  Today was different – he was emboldened.  There was a fire within his bones.  He was anointed and he had to speak.  He stood his ground.  He spoke with eloquence and boldness not his own.  And the results were – well, unbelievable.  Such was the occasion of what could be called the first “Christian sermon.”  Our text this morning is found in the second chapter of Acts.

Text: Acts 2:14-40

So much had happened in such a short time.  Just 7 weeks before he was in that upper room with the Lord Jesus and his fellow disciples.  He could not believe his ears when the Lord Jesus talked of betrayal.  “Not me Lord,” Peter insisted.  “I would die for you.”  And he meant it as his actions later that night proved.  But his heart sank when the Lord Jesus said, “Peter, before this night is over you will have denied even knowing me three times.”  Peter vehemently denied Jesus’ claim.  But eventually the pain in his master’s voice shamed him into silence.  As he thought back to that night and relived each of those denials – each one was like a knife in his heart.  Try as he might he could not block out those awful memories.  But he also remembered the sweet, tender moment when the risen Lord appeared to him.  He looked into those eyes and instantly knew the grace and forgiveness of his God.  And now, today, he felt a power he had never known.  The truth of who Christ is and what he had accomplished in the plan and purpose of God was flooding his mind and soul.  Peter was about to bust!  He had to preach the “good news.”

It was the Day of Pentecost.  The celebration of God’s harvest.  Celebration of God’s giving the Law at Sinai.  People from all over the Roman world were present in Jerusalem.  The power of God fell as had been promised by the Lord Jesus.  There was the sound of a violent, rushing wind.  There were tongues of fire over each head – Peter and the other apostles made their way into the streets and began to declare the glory of God.  People from all over the world were hearing the gospel in their native tongue.  There was great confusion as the people struggled to make sense of all this.  Then Peter addressed the crowd.  (Read the text for the message.)

• It was an “electric” moment.
• It was a moment of high drama.
• It marked the beginning of a new day with the people of God.
• This was the beginning of the fulfillment of the task assigned.

The ministry of reconciliation had been committed to his followers and now Peter stands and boldly begins that ministry.  This sermon at Pentecost serves as a model for authentic ministry.  There are all kinds of models for ministry.  There is great debate today about how we should go about the task assigned.  Some question the need to preach as a means of accomplishing the work – but Acts two reminds us that:

Thesis: Authentic ministry demands that we boldly declare the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Completion of the task assigned demands gospel preaching.

There are three things I want us to note about gospel preaching from our text.

1. Gospel preaching flows from the Spirit’s enabling.  (2:14-21)
2. Gospel preaching focuses on the person and work of the Lord Jesus.  (2:22-36)
3. Gospel preaching forcefully calls for repentance and faith.  (2:37-41)

Conclusion:

Gospel preaching demands each of these elements.  The enabling of the Holy Spirit.  The Message of Jesus and a call for repentance.

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2013 Acts #3: an exposition of Acts 2:1-13. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, June 2, 2013.

Intro:

He was a thin, frail man in poor health.  He was not much of a public speaker.  A man with a brilliant mind no doubt.  A first rate scholar.  Yet his high, screeching voice was awfully annoying.  His eyesight was poor and so when he delivered his sermon he was bent over the pulpit with his face inches from the paper and read the manuscript verbatim.  Yet when he preached the atmosphere was electric.  The congregation was overwhelmed with a sense of the presence of God.  Everywhere he preached the churches were filled to capacity.  Hundreds were converted.  Entire villages were transformed.  Not because of the powerful oratory of Jonathan Edwards but because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon his ministry.

Just over one hundred years later in New York City a layman by the name of Jeremiah Lampfier invited a few business associates to join him in a noontime prayer meeting.  A handful attended the first meeting.  There was no preaching.  There were no “gospel presentations” just prayer.  The next week a few more joined them.  Within weeks the church was filled at noon with businessmen praying.  Soon other churches were opening for prayer at noon.  Before long there were prayer meetings in Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago.  Across the country at noon men gathered in churches to pray.  A spirit of revival had gripped the nation – not because of great preaching.  Not because of persuasive appeals, not even because people prayed – but because God’s Spirit was poured out in abundance upon our nation.

We, as the church, have been given an assignment.  We have been told to take the Gospel to the world.  We have been called to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, to make disciples of all nations.  It is a monumental task.  It is an overwhelming assignment.  It can only be accomplished by divine means.  We are to preach.  We are to give a gospel appeal.  We are to pray but our task can only be accomplished by the power of God.

It is one of the most recognized passages in all the Scripture, especially in the New Testament.  When you mention Acts chapter 2 immediately people think of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  Here is what concerns me.  We can get so focused on cataloguing the trees we fail to recognize we are looking at a forest!  We get so concerned about staking out a position on the gifts manifested at this outpouring that we fail to see the greater message.  This morning our text is found in Acts 2:1-13 as we consider a pivotal moment in the history of the church – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Text: Acts 2:1-13

• Luke is writing to his friend Theophilus.
• He wants Theophilus to understand the continuing work of Jesus through His church.
• Acts is volume 2 of his work.
• The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts need to be considered together.

Listen to Luke 24:49 – “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Now remember Acts 1:8 – “You will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The emphasis of Luke, both in his Gospel and in Acts, is the empowerment of God for the task assigned.  I’m convinced that is the real message of Pentecost.  Because God has promised to empower his church with extraordinary power; and because the purpose of that empowering was to reach the world with the Gospel; and because that purpose has not been accomplished as of yet – we do not approach our text this morning with a mere academic interest in some distant, unrepeatable event.  Rather we come with the prayer and expectation that God will again pour out his Spirit in Pentecostal power.

For Acts chapter 2 serves to remind us that:

Thesis: The ministry of the church demands Pentecostal Power.

There are three things I want us to note from our text this morning.

1. The purpose of the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit in power is to produce a great harvest of souls.  (Acts 2:1-11, 41)
2. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a sovereign, extraordinary work of God.  (Acts 2:2-4)
3. The essence of the outpouring of Holy Spirit is an overwhelming awareness of the presence and the greatness of God.  (Acts 2:4,7,11)

Conclusion:

• Our task is great.
• Our assignment is overwhelming.
• It is well beyond our ability – but God has promised his power to accomplish the task.

May God send Pentecostal power to enable us to accomplish our task.

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Acts #2: an exposition of Acts 1:12-26. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, May 26, 2013.

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Acts #01: an exposition of Acts 1:1-11. This message by pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, May 19, 2013.

Intro:

Vance Havner suggested that “most churches begin at 11 o’clock sharp and end at 12 o’clock dull!”  I know I’ve help to create that notion.  In fact once I dreamed I was preaching and I woke up and I was.  That’s embarrassing.  We’ve all got our own stories about church and it’s failures.  We can talk about what we like and what we don’t like.  Yet church is like family – I can talk about it all I want but I don’t want someone else talking about my family.  Since we’re family today I want to talk about church.  The church (by that I mean the church as a whole, the institutional church) is in trouble.  Look around you.  We are not what we were a few years ago.  Churches are closing in record numbers.  It has been estimated that 6 out of 10 churches across the U.S. will close their doors in the next 10 years.  85-90% of our churches in the Tulsa Metro Baptist Network are plateaued or in decline.  I know the pastors of 4 churches that have closed their doors in the last year and probably another 3 or 4 who are not far from it.  We can name some of the factors leading to this.  First would be the fact that there has been a major shift in culture.  This is not your grandfather’s America.  I might even argue it’s not your older brother’s America!  Add to that the economic whoas we are experiencing, the lack of confidence in institutions, the rise of the internet, social media and other means of connecting…the church has fallen on hard times.  Add to that the fact we’ve not alway helped ourselves.  We’ve been slow to respond.  There’s been an unwillingness to change and adapt to new methodologies.  What do we do about it?  We could sit here and scold the rest of the world for not understanding and not embracing and loving the church…a solution that might make us feel better about ourselves but will not have any affect on the world outside.  We could poll the unbelieving world and ask them what they want and then do our best to give them that.  Of course the problem is we can never beat the world at its own game.   And of course there is the fact that we are not free to make the church what we or anyone else wants it to be.  Only the Lord of the Church can determine that.  If only there was someone who’s done it.  Someone who faced a pagan unbelieving world and built a vibrant, thriving church against all odds.

That’s right.  Someone did and their story is found in the book of Acts.  Our text this morning is found in Acts chapter 1.

Text: Acts 1:1-11

• Acts in volume 2 of Dr. Luke’s writing to his friend Theophilus.
• Luke the physician was a missionary and traveling companion of the apostle Paul.
• He is writing to his friend about the life and work of Jesus.
• The name Theophilus was a common name meaning “lover of God” or “loved by God.”
• The Gospel of Luke refers to him as, “Most excellent Theophilus” suggesting he was a person of influence.

Acts begins with, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach…”  This introduction ties Acts with the Gospel of Luke and also implies Luke’s perspective on the story.  The Gospel = what Jesus began to do, Acts = what Jesus continues to do through His church.  In a real sense, the book of Acts is still being written.  Now I understand the canon of Scripture is closed and God is not still giving revelation – but the work of our Lord continues through His body – the church.

Luke is writing sometime in AD 60-62 giving us the story of the early days of the church at it’s work.  With that in mind let’s look at this opening section.

As we hear Luke’s report from the first century and process it through the our 21^st century experience what does Luke say to us about the church?

As we explore the first 11 verses of Acts I think we are reminded that…

Thesis: The vibrant life and ministry of the church is based upon three great foundational truths.

1. Our identity is found in Christ; His person and work.  (1:1-3)
2. Our power rests exclusively in the person and power of the Holy Spirit.  (1:4-8)
3. Our focus is on the eternal rather than the immediate.  (1:9-11)