Sermon Podcasts

What can you say?

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 14:17:49 +1100

Acts 4:1. While they were still speaking to the people, the priests and the Temple Captain and the Sadducees stormed in.
2. They were offended and incensed that Peter and John were preaching to the people, and teaching about the resurrection from the dead through Jesus.
3. They arrested them and put them in custody until the next day because it was now time for the evening watch in the temple.
4. However many of the people had already heard the word being preached, and about five thousand men had now become believers.
5. Then the next morning, the rulers and elders and scribes
6. And Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and the family group of the high priest came together for a meeting at Jerusalem.
7. They stood Peter and John before them and began to question them. They asked by what power and under whose name or authority had they performed this healing.
8. Peter was full of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and he said; ‘All you rulers and elders of Israel
9. If this is some investigation into what caused this wonderful thing to happen to this weak and crippled man
10. I want to inform you all, and indeed all the people of Israel, that this man stands before you totally healed today through the power and the authority of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, and whom God raised up from the dead,
11. This is the stone that was rejected by you builders, and which has become the chief cornerstone.
12. Salvation comes through no other person, or through any other name under heaven. Through him alone are we saved.’
13. When they saw the fearless confidence of Peter and John, who were ordinary looking men and obviously uneducated, they were astonished. They recognized them
as being among the disciples of Jesus.
14. Then when they looked at the totally healed man standing there next to them, there was nothing left for them to say.

The rulers of Israel had nothing to say because what they saw defied all guiding principles or religious procedures they had ever known or seen. The rulers of Israel saw that these men were ordinary uneducated men. Peter and John had not announced that they were going to perform any miracles and did not invite anybody to come and listen to them preaching, so there was no structure or organization about what they were doing. They were being led by the Holy Spirit and they were exercising faith in the name (or character) of Jesus. They were in the right place at the right time, ready to do the right thing.
Doing the right thing is: Doing the best you can do, trusting in the name (person) of Jesus, then leaving the rest to the delegated power of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:11)

Peter and John were partners in a work of God - they then spoke about the person of God - and five thousand men had their lives completely transformed.

The key points of the sermon in the temple were:-

Jesus defeated death – he defeated sin – and he released the power of healing.
The consequences of Satan’s work in the earth are death, sin, and sickness.

These are what Peter preached about; the power of the resurrection over the power of death, the power of the lifeblood of Jesus over the power of sin, and he demonstrated the power of the release of healing through the name of Jesus.

In the previous chapter Peter had told them that Heaven must retain Jesus until the restoration of ALL things spoken by the prophets concerning him. This included the fact that he must reign at the Father’s side until ALL things were put under his feet.
WE are told in the book of Hebrews that all things are under his feet. However we are also told that we do not yet SEE all things under his feet. (Hebrews 2:10)
This does not mean we give up and sit back. It means we press on towards the mark of the high call of God in Jesus Christ.
Resurrection life Philippians 3:10, 11. Life out of death – all things working for good
Power over sin’s dominion. Romans 6. No separation from God and God’s love.
Release of the power of healing (Matthew 9:5-8)

JESUSMAIL 5/2/12

I WORK YOU BELIEVE

Life with me will work for you, if you let me work with you. My work is to do the supernatural, and your work is to believe. Your work means a humble and merciful heart to others, and trust in the power of my Spirit within you. You will be amazed at what unfolds.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “ This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (NKJ)

Times of fulfillment

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:13:01 +1100

Acts 3:19. So now you need to repent by accepting a totally new mindset, and change you whole way of life, and let your sins be cancelled out. Then you will know times of refreshing and revival from the presence of the Lord.
20. And God will send Jesus Christ back, as has been proclaimed.
21. But he must stay in Heaven until, in God’s time, everything is restored to the fulfillment of what has been prophesied through the prophets since the beginning of time.
22. Moses told our forefathers that the Lord our God would raise up a prophet, like he did with me, one of your own, and you must listen to everything he has to say. (Acts 7:37) (Deut 18:15ff)
23. And any person who does not heed what that prophet says will be cut off from being among the people of God. (Leviticus 23:26-32)
24. All the prophets from Samuel on down who have spoken to you as God’s people, have prophesied of these days which are upon us now.
25. You are the children of the prophets and the covenant which God made with our forefathers when he said to Abraham ‘In your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
26. God sent Jesus to you first of all, to bless you, causing your hearts to be turned away from lawlessness and disobedience.

We are heading towards the times of fulfillment of all the covenant promises through Jesus, that are summed up in God’s Word from the beginning. These prophecies include:

The whole world receiving the message of Jesus. (Matthew 24:14)

The final victory over all darkness. (Psalm 110)

The transforming of God’s peoples’ hearts into a humble yielding to Jesus. (Psalm 110)

God’s people coming into a fulfillment of the rest of faith (The spiritual fulfillment of the Feast of Atonement)– Leviticus 23:26-32) (NB. Israels’ three opportunities)

The restoration of truth and power to the Church. (Hebrews 6:1-3)

Be ready for anything

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:32:24 +1100

Acts 3:1. Peter and John went to the temple together at three o’clock in the afternoon, the usual time for prayer,
2. And a man was there, who had been lame from birth, and who was carried every day to one of the temple gates called Beautiful, where he would beg for money from the people who entered the temple.
3. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple he asked them for some money.
4. Peter and John looked intently at the man and told him to look back at them.
5. He gave them his full attention because he thought they were about to give him some money.
6. Then Peter said to him ‘Look, I don’t have any money, but there is something I do have that I am going to give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and start walking.’
7. Peter took the man by his right hand and began to lift him up, and straightaway the man’s feet and ankle bones became firm and strong.
8. He stood up and began to walk around then he started leaping about. He entered the temple with Peter and John, still leaping about and praising God.
9. Everybody was staring at him as he walked around praising God.
10. They all knew it was the same man who would sit every day begging at the gate Beautiful. They were awestruck and filled with amazement at what had happened to him.
11. As the healed man clung on to Peter and John, the crowd surged towards them in the well known porch of Solomon’s Temple.
12. When Peter saw this he addressed the crowd, saying, ‘All you Israelites, what are you staring at us like that for? As if it was something to do with our holiness or our power that caused this man to walk.
13. The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and of our forefathers has done this to glorify his Son Jesus, whom you handed over to Pilate and rejected, even when Pilate himself was determined to set him free.
14. You have rejected the Holy and Just One and pleaded for a murderer to be set free in his place.
15. You have killed the Prince of Life, whom God has raised from the dead. We are witnesses to the fact that he rose from the dead and is still alive.
16. It is all about him and who he is and what he does, and faith in his name has made this man, whom you all know and recognize, healed and strong. It is the faith that comes from Jesus that has given this man perfect soundness before your very eyes.
17. But it is clear to me now that you and your spiritual leaders did all of this in complete ignorance.
18. However it is also clear that God had declared all of this about Christ and his suffering through the prophets, and these prophesies have now been fulfilled.
19. So now you need to repent by accepting a totally new mindset, and change your whole way of life, and let your sins be cancelled out. Then you will know times of refreshing and revival from the presence of the Lord.’

1. Peter and John were not expecting this amazing event to happen, but they were sensitive to the Holy Spirit when he prompted them to speak to the man at the gate. This was a sovereign act of God that they had not planned but that they were ready for. So they were ready in the spirit, for the Spirit.
Romans 1:15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
Paul had to wait and go through unexpected and undesirable circumstances to get to Rome eventually, but because it was the supernatural and powerful outworking of God’s sovereign plan it came to pass eventually.
With Peter and John, theirs was a positive and powerful demonstration in every way, with no suffering or confusion or doubt or need of patience or endurance. It was all good and produced only good.

2. Not all positive supernatural outcomes of God through the work of the Holy Spirit began in positive circumstances and ended with an instantly positive result. The example of Peter being freed from prison by the angel in Acts chapter 12 was another powerful and positive outcome but with a challenging and difficult experience of suffering and personal threat. Peter learned to ‘hope to the end.’ (1 Peter 1:13).
We see no evidence in New Testament Scriptures of organized healing or miracle meetings, as if the supernatural works were dictated by the scheduling arrangements of the apostles – the ‘times of refreshing and revival’ are in his hands. However there is evidence that all believers would spontaneously respond in faith and prayer to the needs of others and trust God for his results.

3. However what is clear is the ongoing experience of the apostles in discovering the ways of God in the supernatural realm as one of ‘being ready for anything’, knowing that God would be glorified if they maintained their trust in the work of the Holy Spirit and his methods and his timing instead of their own. They would experience the good, the bad and the ugly, believing that God would ‘make all things beautiful in his time’
Ecc 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, so that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
God created this hunger in our hearts to pursue and to find out who he was, and to be offered the opportunity to accept or reject this pursuit, over and against other worldly pursuits. We have always been given the choice to ‘choose life’.

What do we do now?

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:47:28 +1100

Acts 2:37. When they heard this they were cut to the core of their conscience. They said to one another and to Peter ‘What do we do now?’
38. Peter said. Repent, by fully accepting this in your minds as being the truth. Then all of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for you to know your sins have been cancelled out, and receive and embrace the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39. This is the promise that is yours to receive, and your children, and for all people, near and far, and down through the years to come, the multitudes that our God shall invite.
40. With these and many other words of challenge and encouragement Peter told them to save themselves from the corrupt and twisted culture of this world.
41. Those that fully accepted what he had to say were baptized, and they were about three thousand in number.
42. They committed themselves to the continual attendance to the apostles’ teaching, and to enjoying fellowship together, and to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
43. An awesome reverence for God came upon every one of them, and many signs and wonders were done through the apostles.
44. These believers shared their belongings with one another.
45. They sold goods and possessions and shared the proceeds to those who were in need.
46. They gathered together with oneness of heart and mind each day in the temple, and went from house to house breaking bread with each other, eating together with great joy and unity.
47. As they praised God they were given favor with all the people, and God added daily to the church those that accepted his salvation.

1. What do we do now?
2. How are we to think?
3. What do we believe?

We will start with what we are to believe - what Peter has just said about the plan for humanity that has been prophesied throughout Scripture, and is now ready to be implemented. That is, that our sins have been cancelled out, and we now need to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ in order to be identified with him and live a shared life with him in the power of the Holy Spirit, and not with the world’s ways. Romans 6:1-14 (Message Bible)

Secondly we are to think differently, with a new perspective about ourselves and about the sinful culture of the world in which we live. We are to see the world as being the people that Jesus loves, and has given his life for. This means living with mercy and compassion and not judgment. This has implications as to how we treat other people. Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it. It does not mean trusting every living soul, and putting your life into their hands.
John 2:23-25 During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. 24 But Jesus didn't entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. 25 He didn't need any help in seeing right through them.

Thirdly ‘What do we do now?’ We are to act differently, with a new way of responding, rather than reacting to the behavior of other people. This is how we ‘save ourselves’ from the twisted and corrupt culture of this world. Other people are not the enemy. Satan is public enemy number one, and our carnal mind comes in a close second.
From Acts 2 verses 41 to 47 we see the free and generous spirit of the lifestyle the believers committed themselves to, and which God blessed abundantly.

The enemy is us

Sun, 8 Jan 2012 18:23:11 +1100

Acts 2:28. You have made known to me the way of life. You will give me fulfillment and joy in your presence.
29. My friends and brothers hear me out with what I have to say about our forefather David. We know he is dead and buried and we know where his burial place is.
30. And as he was a prophet he knew that God had solemnly sworn to him that out from among his own descendants there would come the anointed Christ to sit on his very own throne.
31. So seeing all of this prophetically, he was able to foretell of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul would not be left in the grave, nor would his body waste away into the dust.
32. God has resurrected this Jesus, and we have witnessed it all with our own eyes.
33. And now Jesus, who has been raised into the most exalted of places at the right hand of God, has received the promised heavenly gift of the life of the Holy Spirit, and he has shared out this gift of to all of us. And you are now seeing it in action.
34. It was not David who ascended into the heavens, because it was David who said ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit up here next to me at my right hand
35. Until all I have put all your enemies under your feet.
36. So let all the House of Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

1. There is the obvious enemy of God and of us, and that is Satan, the accuser. That war started in Genesis (Gen 3:15) and ends in the book of Revelation (Rev 19:11, 20:7) – and it rages all the while in between (Eph 6:10-13).

2. The not so obvious enemy is us against ourselves, and God, in our carnal minds. This is an attitude of independence and it leads to us distancing ourselves from God, e.g. hardening our hearts and joining the world’s thinking and attitudes of anger and fear, and in blaming God for life’s misfortunes.
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be.
James 4:4 Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the worlds friend makes himself Gods enemy. 5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”?

3. The good news is that mankind is not God’s enemy, as we have been reconciled through Jesus.
Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 11 Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.