Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 2

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"A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 2 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

• 0:00
  Good morning.
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  So thank you.
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  We're all among family here, so I think I'll start with this.
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  I had a coat hanging in my closet for several weeks and I put it on and it looked like,
• 0:21
  Kathy said, like I had slept in it.
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  So I brought it and I put it in the dryer up here with some ice.
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  And I'll ask you, which would be more distracting to you, if I preach this morning without a
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  coat on or if I had this one on?
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  I'm voting for the no coat today, so if somebody tells me otherwise, then you may see me in
• 0:41
  a coat.
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  Otherwise, this is what you get today.
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  We are looking at challenges that the church will always face in the book of Acts.
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  And Acts is often referred to as the history book of the church.
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  And there are a lot of different ways to study any book of the Bible.
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  I've never looked at Acts through this particular lens and we got off to a great start last
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  week with a background and introduction to the book of Acts and we saw the challenges
• 1:08
  that they were facing before the church was even established.
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  We see that they're sitting in the waiting room, as it were, and they're ready to go.
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  They're waiting to accomplish the mission that they have been encouraged by their Lord
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  to undertake.
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  And in that time of waiting, there's also a job for them to do.
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  Before they even get started, they've got to make some leadership changes and we saw
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  that last week.
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  We see them moving from the waiting room to go through a door of opportunity when we come
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  to Acts chapter 2.
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  And that's what we're going to focus on today.
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  Originally, and this is the, originally we called it the challenge of sharing, of preaching
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  rather.
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  We're going to call it the challenge of sharing the gospel and we'll show you why in just
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  a moment.
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  In Acts chapter 1, you may remember that there are 120 who are gathered in that room.
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  And they're in that period of waiting and in that number we have women, certain women,
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  maybe the ones that began with Jesus in the Galilean ministry.
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  Luke would give that emphasis in Luke chapter 8.
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  This is the last mention of Mary, the mother of Jesus in Acts chapter 1.
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  We have, of course, the apostles, including the one that was selected and justice who
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  was not, and then we have some Jewish brethren, including the brothers of Jesus.
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  And we're not really given a clear indication as to what role they're going to play in Acts
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  chapter 2.
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  When we begin to read what's going to happen with the spirit coming, and we'll look more
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  at that in a moment, there are people who are gathered from every nation under heaven.
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  And as they do, they're hearing and they're seeing these wonders.
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  So are there the women and the other brethren who have filed out among the crowd, who are
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  speaking in tongues?
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  We know that Cornelius and his household would have included not just Cornelius and any male
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  members but all that made up that household.
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  Whatever it is, it signals them, it makes them alert to the fact that something unusual
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  is taking place.
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  And God is creating this opportunity so that the gospel can be preached.
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  But as far as the proclaiming goes on this occasion, it's a job that's given to Peter
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  and the rest of the apostles.
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  Remember back in the Great Commission in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they're told the apostles
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  are gathered before Jesus ascends to heaven.
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  And as he's about to take that step, he says that they are to go into all the world.
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  They're the original recipients of the charge to go and share the gospel.
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  Now we stand on their shoulders, men, women, young people, elders, deacons, preachers,
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  and all members.
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  We share in that task that God has given us to do that.
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  But as you look in chapter 2 and verse 14, it's Peter whose sermon is going to be recorded.
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  He stands with the eleven and it's going to be shared.
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  Now again, the original challenge as Hiram and I mapped out this class was the challenge
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  of preaching the gospel.
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  And I think that that's an okay for us, a way for us to designate this as long as we're
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  not thinking in our mind about the public proclamation.
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  Preaching as in the formal assembly, like what we're doing.
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  I mean, if you think about it, is that what Peter's doing in Acts chapter 2?
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  Is it the equivalent of what we're going to do in the next hour?
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  Not really.
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  I mean, there's some things that correspond.
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  And how many preachers have actually preached the outline of Acts chapter 2 in their sermon?
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  We're actually going to look at that a little later in the class today.
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  But it's a public sharing of the good news.
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  Now preaching is an important word in the book of Acts, but you don't even see it in
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  our text.
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  Originally, our text was Acts 2 and 3.
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  Spoiler alert, we're not going to get out of chapter 2 today.
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  We keep kicking that can down the road and Hiram's going to deal with that in Acts 3
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  through 5 next week, Lord willing.
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  The first time you come across the word 17 times in the book of Acts is in Acts chapter
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  5 in verse 42.
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  There's no doubt that that's exactly what they're doing.
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  When we define that word preach, it helps us to understand this.
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  Now what would be a good working definition of preach?
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  Proclaim, teach, share the good news, right?
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  So there's the idea behind all of that.
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  And this definitely describes what we're going to read in Acts chapter 2 and again in Acts
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  chapter 3 and throughout the book of Acts.
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  But this is as much like evangelism as the public part of preaching that we do in our
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  assemblies.
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  Now, later in Acts, we're going to have some other occasions where evangelism is the centerpiece
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  of our study because it's going to keep coming up.
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  It's at the heart of who we are, evangelism, sharing the good news.
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  There are three classes in the second half of this class in which we're going to look
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  at the challenge of evangelism and we're going to do so through the prism of the first, second
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  and third missionary journeys in Acts chapter 13 through 20.
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  But the challenges in Acts chapter 2 are different from the challenges we're going to see when
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  Paul is taking the gospel to different places.
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  Now as we think this morning and set up our class in Acts chapter 2, would you agree with
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  me that it is a challenge to share our faith?
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  Why do you think?
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  Why is sharing our faith such a challenge?
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  Let me ask you, do you believe it?
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  Do you believe it's true?
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  The things, the foundation upon which you stand, do you believe what Peter preaches
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  in Acts chapter 2, that Jesus died, was buried, he died for our sins and that he rose again
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  and that he lives forevermore at the Father's right hand, do you believe that?
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  Are you convicted it's true?
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  Are you resting your life on it being true?
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  So why the challenge?
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  Without brow-beating, I'm searching because I struggle with it too.
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  Why do we struggle?
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  Okay, yeah, and so often, you know, politics and religion are thrown in the same bucket.
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  The things that you just don't talk about in polite conversation.
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  So we're afraid of confrontation.
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  I think there's a general sense in which that's true.
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  We just don't like it.
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  Roger, what were you going to say?
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  Afraid of rejection.
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  I think that's fair.
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  Non-confrontational.
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  Yeah, yeah, even, even the most softly way of presenting that, that it's going to cause
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  somebody to what, not like us or to not want anything more to do with us, I think that's
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  fair.
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  Yeah, Joey.
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  We may not be challenged to share it, but we've become less likely to share it over
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  time because we feel like nobody wants to hear it or want to know it.
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  Yeah, not every time you swing, do you make contact?
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  You know, sometimes you feel like you strike out.
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  Harry, and then we'll come over to you, Kevin.
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  I feel inadequate.
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  If I try, I mean, what a responsibility to share the good news of our salvation.
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  What if I mess it up?
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  Okay.
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  It does.
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  So how does that become a challenge?
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  If Jesus, our example, the one who's doing it, did that, and we know that he did that,
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  we know that we're to walk in his steps, we're to walk after him, Luke 9, 23, 1 Corinthians
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  11 and verse 1.
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  Why don't we?
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  Relationships.
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  Okay, it's going to wreck or impact in some way our relationships, there's no doubt about
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  it.
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  Now, a lot of the answers revolve around what?
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  Fear.
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  Is that, is that legitimate?
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  That we feel fear?
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  Yes.
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  Sure it is.
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  Now, I compiled a list, I think that a lot of them, I think this was a lot like what
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  Brother Harry said.
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  We feel ill-equipped.
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  Now, here's something I believe that, and I've seen, and I don't think it's just because
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  I'm a preacher, I've watched others do it in Bible studies.
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  You know more than you think you do.
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  You know, I don't know how much is osmosis, but you've been sitting in the assemblies
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  and you've been hearing it, and okay, yeah, sure, maybe you don't know where the book,
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  the chapter, and the verse is.
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  But a lot of times, it's incredible.
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  You pray about this, you've been preparing for years for this, and it is, there is something
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  about how you can, in those moments, you can recall at least the concept.
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  And folks aren't going to grade you harshly if you can't pick it out right there, but
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  what you can say is, I'll find exactly where it is, and I'll show you, and then go and
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  do that, right?
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  So, but we've got, we've got work to do in order to get ourselves better equipped.
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  We aren't going to stay content in that.
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  We're going to give diligence to make ourselves a worker approved unto God who doesn't need
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  to be ashamed.
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  And in 1 Peter 3, 15, we can give an answer when we're called upon to do so.
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  Yes, ma'am?
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  Absolutely.
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  In fact, absolutely.
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  Yeah.
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  And so, Ms. Doris is talking about a disposition, an attitude that we want to avoid a know-it-all
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  approach in all of that, and we're going to say more about that when we get into Acts
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  chapter 2 properly.
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  This is the one that you mentioned the most, and it's so easy to find ourselves here.
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  Now, Paul says, don't be ashamed of me and of the testimony of our Lord in 2 Timothy
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  chapter 1 and verse 8, and Jesus, I mean, these admonitions are given to us because
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  it's such a common tendency that we fall into.
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  Jesus says, whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed
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  when he comes in the glory of his Father, Mark chapter 8 and verse 38.
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  Paul says in Romans 1, 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and all of these
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  are, I mean, look, Paul says it to Timothy.
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  Timothy is preaching at Ephesus, and so preachers needed this to say, you know, God's not giving
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  us a spirit of fear in the verse before that in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7.
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  And so, it's an encouragement to us to say, attack the source of your fear.
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  Maybe you can go to Matthew 10 and verse 28, assess, prioritize your fear.
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  And exercises like this are an encouragement for us to confront that fear.
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  A lot of what we're afraid of, when we go and try to handle those opportunities, are
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  just things that we imagine in our mind.
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  We're doomsday thinkers, and we just imagine the worst scenario, and so often, it doesn't
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  go near as bad.
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  Now, can it go?
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  Yeah, sure, but I'd say that that is not the case, more often as it is, that people are
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  appreciative that you care enough about them, especially, as Ms. Doar said, we come about
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  it with the right kind of demeanor and attitude.
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  Maybe we have an example problem, and our walk can interfere with our witness, and if
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  that's the case, we need to work on that.
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  Paul says, sound speech cannot be condemned.
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  The one who is of the contrary part needs to be ashamed, having no evil thing to say
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  of us.
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  That's what does Paul say in 1 Timothy 4, 12, be an example of the believer, how?
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  In word.
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  And King James says conversation, that sounds redundant.
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  That's really conduct.
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  In love and faith and purity.
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  You have all these different areas of life where practicing the fruit of the Spirit can
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  open doors for you, but of course, a failure in that can have an opposite reaction.
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  But lack of conviction.
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  Kind of what we said a moment ago, if I'm truly convicted, then it's going to help to
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  encourage me when I have an opportunity to come out of the waiting room and go in through
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  the door of opportunities to say something.
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  I think about Apollos.
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  Man, here's a guy who didn't even have it all straight yet.
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  In Acts 18 and verse 25 says he was eloquent and mighty in the scriptures.
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  He had a passion and conviction, even not understanding everything to the full extent
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  that he needed to, and yet here he is out there acting on his conviction.
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  Romans 12 and verse 1, we're to be fervent in spirit, and so we're encouraged in that
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  throughout all of the scriptures.
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  Paul says, I know whom I believe.
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  We sing a song based on 2 Timothy 1, 12.
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  I know whom I believe and am persuaded that he's able to keep what I've committed unto
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  him against that day.
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  Being convicted that it's true, being convicted of my need to be a part of that is a step
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  in the direction of walking through that door.
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  Do we get comfortable sometimes?
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  Who's in Revelation 3, 14 through 19?
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  Anybody remember?
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  It's one of the seven churches, Laodicea, right?
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  And they find themselves comfortable in the position where they are.
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  And Jesus says, that won't do.
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  That's lukewarm.
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  And a lack of ownership, it's not my job.
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  That's a good, easy defense mechanism that we can make.
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  Now, 2 Timothy 2, 2 again is spoken by Paul to a man who is serving and preaching, but
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  here's what he says.
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  The things that you have seen and heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to
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  faithful men who may be able to teach others also.
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  Think about the generations involved in that.
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  There's Ananias who is God's spokesman to come to Paul.
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  These are the things, Galatians 1 and 2, that he is sharing.
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  Timothy is one who has received that and Timothy is to take that to faithful men who are able
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  to teach others also.
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  We live downstream from that.
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  And as one who has received that, then we have an equal responsibility to go out and
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  to share it.
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  Now, what I want us to see when we go to Acts chapter 2 is they faced some of the same challenges
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  that we face.
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  And how they handled that are ways that we can handle it today.
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  The first challenge that we have is reaching a diverse audience.
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  Now these glasses were in that coat in the dryer, so I hope they cooled off enough for
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  me to use them to read.
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  Y'all turn with me to Acts chapter 2.
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  Yes, they are.
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  Acts 2, and we're going to pick up with the text there.
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  When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
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  And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled
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  the entire house where they were sitting.
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  And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
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  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the
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  Spirit gave them utterance.
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  And now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
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  And at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one
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  was hearing them speak in his own language.
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  And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all those who are speaking Galileans?
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  And how is it that we hear each one of us in his own native language?
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  Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus
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  and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and
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  visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling
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  in our own tongues the mighty works of God.
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  So there's a diverse audience that's gathered together on this occasion.
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  And I recognize there are things different from our circumstances today.
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  I mean the way the door gets opened in the first place, different than don't expect tongues
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  to fall on you and you go out and speak Russian with a Russian which you've never studied
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  Russian before.
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  So I get that there are some things that don't correspond.
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  But it's what happens, you take that out of the way and the things that are overcome with
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  a completed revelation, that's why they're doing this miracle, is so that they can prove
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  that the message that they're speaking is true.
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  It's an attention getter and we'll say that there are ways for us to be able to do that.
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  Sometimes the attention is based on something happening in someone's life.
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  The door opens.
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  So this is the door opening.
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  How do doors open for us?
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  Okay, perhaps if we hear it preached, you know, we have a TV program, a lot of folks,
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  we didn't realize it, a lot of folks locally are watching that.
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  We have conversations about that all the time.
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  We had one the other night.
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  And it's a door of opportunity.
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  That's one way the door opens.
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  How else does it open?
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  Friendships.
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  Probably the predominant way it's going to happen.
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  And in that subset, maybe that door opens because we have formed a friendship and somebody's
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  struggling.
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  They're in a time of need.
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  They're hurting.
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  There's a life change that's happened.
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  People get married.
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  People have children.
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  All of these are the doors that open.
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  It's different in a sense, obviously, from the tongues.
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  But it's a way for the door to open.
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  But what I want to focus on in this point is this is a diverse group.
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  Did you notice as we read through?
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  So as we think about that, I want to start from the positive side.
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  What do all these folks have in common?
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  Look at the text we just saw in Acts 2, 1-11.
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  What are some things you'd say that they had in common together?
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  They're all devout.
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  They're religious people.
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  Okay, that's definitely one.
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  They're all Jews on this occasion.
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  They're gathered for a Jewish feast.
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  Anything else?
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  They're all in the same place.
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  I mean, that's significant, right?
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  They're right there before them where the opportunity is happening.
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  What else?
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  They all witnessed the same thing.
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  They were seeking teaching, all of them.
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  They had an open heart.
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  Now, they weren't ready for that teaching.
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  They thought they were going to get a different lesson that day.
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  They reacted.
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  Look at verse 7.
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  They were attentive.
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  All right, so there were some things they had in common.
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  Now, here's the question.
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  What was different about them?
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  How did they differ from one another?
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  Okay, they had different languages.
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  What else?
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  Different nationalities, geography, background.
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  All right, you had both genders.
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  There are some assumptions we could make.
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  They're of different ages, one from another.
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  And a lot of this, as we flesh out the book of Acts, we're going to see this.
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  I mean, suddenly, there are Grecian women in Acts chapter 5.
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  Somewhere between Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 5,
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  those women obeyed the gospel.
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  And so you have all these differences.
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  Now, we find ourselves with the same challenge today.
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  Now, I want you to just take our class for just a moment as an example of this.
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  I think it represents the community pretty well.
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  What's different about us among ourselves?
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  We'll get to commonalities in a minute.
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  But first, let's deal with the differences.
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  What's different?
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  Different ages.
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  That may be a favorable or unfavorable comparison in your mind.
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  I don't know.
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  What else?
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  Income and training.
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  Income and training.
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  Our backgrounds.
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  Age, race, education, economics, marital status, level of interest,
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  level of involvement, gender.
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  All right, what do we have in common?
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  OK, a common purpose in being in this room, to worship God.
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  By the way, that's also Pentecost.
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  A desire to learn.
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  We assume.
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  We can only know so much.
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  We all chose to be here.
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  OK.
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  Anything else we got in common?
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  Boy, we sound like a really nice group.
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  We speak the same language.
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  OK, by and large.
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  I'm looking for Masa.
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  I don't see him in here.
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  By and large, that's true.
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  We share the same culture.
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  OK.
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  Yeah, not.
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  We don't know if we can stand on that.
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  Majority of us are Christians.
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  OK, boy, we are a great group.
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  Anything else we got in common?
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  Thank you, Harold.
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  Gold star.
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  I'll get you that after class.
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  We're all sinners.
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  And I want to get it down on this level and not even just the sin part.
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  That's where we got to begin.
• 21:50
  That's going to help with Miss Doris's counsel to us in our approach to other
• 21:55
  people.
• 21:56
  We all, they may not be the same.
• 21:59
  We all have fears.
• 22:01
  We all have desires.
• 22:04
  We all have needs.
• 22:06
  We all have motives that drive us to do what we do.
• 22:10
  Now, all I'm saying is as we approach the opportunities to share the gospel,
• 22:14
  it's good for us to realize that the people that we encounter and we want to
• 22:19
  share the good news with are people that we have things in common with and things
• 22:24
  that we have as contrasts that are differences between us and them.
• 22:29
  And both of those things are helpful to us in seizing the opportunity.
• 22:32
  Can you see that?
• 22:34
  How is it helpful to realize that there are differences between us and the people
• 22:40
  we're sharing the gospel with?
• 22:43
  How is that going to help us?
• 22:45
  In your mind, paint a picture maybe hopefully of somebody specific in your
• 22:48
  mind that you'd like to reach with the gospel.
• 22:53
  How does acknowledging that there are differences between you and that person,
• 22:57
  how will that help you to share the gospel?
• 23:01
  Okay, that's exactly right.
• 23:03
  And how will that help us approach them knowing that they're different from us?
• 23:09
  Okay?
• 23:11
  So, I want to just dive a little bit deeper into that.
• 23:15
  How will we do that?
• 23:16
  If I recognize they're different from me, how is that going to tailor my approach
• 23:20
  to them?
• 23:22
  Okay, so having a mindset that says, I'm going to try to relate to them,
• 23:27
  isn't it possible that we can see the same thing different ways?
• 23:32
  I mean, especially when you're sharing the gospel and there's so much religious
• 23:35
  confusion in the world, if you can know that some people,
• 23:40
  and there are a lot of different reasons why we're trying to share the gospel,
• 23:43
  and I don't even necessarily mean gospel things.
• 23:45
  They see, depending on your background, you see life differently from one another.
• 23:51
  And a lot of our difficulties come when we assume that people think like we think.
• 23:56
  I mean, even down to personality.
• 23:58
  If an extrovert and an introvert get together, or a person who comes from what
• 24:03
  we call a good, strong, healthy family, or somebody who comes from dysfunction,
• 24:08
  or somebody who's been scarred by life, and somebody who's maybe not been beat
• 24:11
  up quite as bad.
• 24:13
  All of this is going to tailor our approach to folks.
• 24:17
  Yeah.
• 24:18
  Absolutely.
• 24:26
  Yeah.
• 24:33
  Absolutely.
• 24:38
  Absolutely.
• 24:38
  We're bridge builders.
• 24:39
  We're trying to...
• 24:42
  Yeah, for sure.
• 24:43
  And that's going to happen here.
• 24:45
  And, of course, a lot of it's done for Peter because of the commonalities that exist.
• 24:48
  And a lot of times that can help to build a bridge for us.
• 24:52
  When we see differences between ourself and someone else, or anticipate that,
• 24:56
  it will help us to practice empathy.
• 24:58
  It will help us to put the interests and the needs of the other person above ourselves.
• 25:02
  It'll be the default position that we try to approach this, Philippians 2, 3, and 4.
• 25:06
  Help us with practicing the golden rule, Luke 6 and verse 31.
• 25:10
  It will also shape our patience, and our kindness, and our gentleness.
• 25:15
  We've got to speak the truth.
• 25:16
  Peter, rather, is going to be very plain spoken in his sharing of the gospel.
• 25:21
  But Paul's going to say, as we share, there are rules of the road.
• 25:26
  And a lot of times, he describes it at the end of that by saying that they're held captive
• 25:30
  by the devil to do his will.
• 25:32
  Our minds can get distorted by the thinking of this world, and we come to people who are
• 25:37
  still in that kind of thinking, recognizing they don't have the benefit of having sat
• 25:43
  in Sunday school a lot of times, or maybe they don't have the benefit of the background
• 25:47
  that we have.
• 25:48
  If we have that, we're going to recognize that there are differences.
• 25:51
  We're not going to amplify them or accentuate them, but we're going to know they're there.
• 25:55
  To Chuck's point, we're going to also see that there are things that we have in common
• 25:58
  with one another.
• 25:59
  And when we find that there are commonalities, it causes us to look for common ground.
• 26:04
  I love what Paul says to a bunch of folks where he's not starting with the Bible.
• 26:07
  He's not even starting with the belief in the existence of God on Mars Hill.
• 26:10
  He says in Acts 17, 26, of one blood, God made all men to live on the face of the earth.
• 26:15
  It was Marshall Keeble who was kind of criticized for calling a man a brother who wasn't a New
• 26:20
  Testament Christian.
• 26:21
  And he says, if you're not my brother in Christ, I'll pick you up in Adam.
• 26:25
  His point is what Malachi's was in Malachi 2 and verse 10, did not one creator make us
• 26:30
  all?
• 26:31
  And so we're coming from an understanding of what we said a moment ago, that we're all
• 26:36
  dealing with the same basic things, good and bad.
• 26:40
  And so we're going to approach people from that.
• 26:42
  If we also realize that we are and have things in common with others, it'll keep us from
• 26:47
  putting up people too high or putting people too below us.
• 26:53
  You know, James says that if we have the gospel with respect to persons, there's a big problem.
• 26:59
  James chapter two, verse one and verse following, and it helps us to feel for other people's
• 27:04
  situation.
• 27:05
  When we understand we're just fellow strugglers and it helps us in our desire to help them.
• 27:10
  This is said to Christians in Romans 12, 15 and 1 Peter 3, 8.
• 27:14
  But I think the principle is true no matter who we are talking about, to show them those
• 27:19
  common traits of empathy, to weep and rejoice with them when it's appropriate, and for us
• 27:24
  to show compassion and sympathy and brotherliness.
• 27:28
  The first challenge we're going to face, and really there's nothing we can do about this
• 27:31
  because it's the world, especially in America.
• 27:35
  We're trying to reach a diverse audience.
• 27:36
  You think about that from a generational standpoint.
• 27:40
  We're losing the greatest generation.
• 27:41
  We still have a few of them.
• 27:42
  I don't know if anybody saw Gene Shalit.
• 27:43
  Do you ever watch the critic from the Today Show?
• 27:46
  If you're old enough to remember that, the wild curly haired guy.
• 27:50
  He died today.
• 27:51
  He was 100 years old.
• 27:52
  I thought he died a long time ago.
• 27:54
  He's part of that great generation.
• 27:56
  There's the silent generation.
• 27:57
  And you think about how things like technology have changed all that.
• 28:00
  Yes, it's a challenge and how we reach out to those folks.
• 28:04
  But God's word, the gospel, is powerful enough to penetrate through those differences.
• 28:09
  It's a challenge.
• 28:10
  Thoughts, comments before we move on to challenge number two.
• 28:15
  Yes ma'am.
• 28:16
  That's probably true.
• 28:17
  Yeah.
• 28:18
  Yeah, it's a challenge.
• 28:19
  Yeah, I think we do that.
• 28:38
  We do.
• 28:39
  We think that the people who come after us, they've gone further away from right and moral
• 28:44
  standards as we believe it.
• 28:45
  That's good.
• 28:46
  I agree.
• 28:47
  Challenge number two, overcoming audience prejudices.
• 28:53
  We've already read 7 through 11.
• 28:54
  Let me just add on to that just a little bit and read verse 12 and verse 13.
• 28:58
  We'll go back and pick up the others in a minute.
• 29:00
  All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean?
• 29:03
  But others mocking said, they are full of new wine.
• 29:08
  Whenever we are sharing the gospel, we are trying to do so through the filters and the
• 29:13
  prejudices of other people.
• 29:15
  It's no different on the day of Pentecost.
• 29:17
  I want you to look into the text.
• 29:19
  I see at least two prejudices they had to overcome.
• 29:23
  What are the prejudices of the people on that day toward the apostles as they're sharing?
• 29:28
  Alright, first one is they doubted, let me deal with these one by one.
• 29:33
  They doubted their credentials.
• 29:36
  They said, are not all these who speak Galileans?
• 29:39
  What's the big deal about that?
• 29:41
  Why was that noteworthy for them to doubt the message or to hold it in suspicion because
• 29:47
  these guys are from Galilee?
• 29:50
  Okay, that's a great point.
• 29:53
  They're Jews and in the district of Judea, it's a much more purist area.
• 29:59
  It's a much more, it's mainly Jews.
• 30:02
  You get up at Galilee and there's Gentile territory all around it and they're mixing
• 30:07
  more often, maybe on a daily basis through commerce with the Gentiles.
• 30:11
  And how did the purists, how did the Pharisees and the scribes and the chief priests, how
• 30:16
  did they feel about people who rubbed elbows with the Gentiles too much?
• 30:21
  You're not clean.
• 30:23
  You're maybe, you maybe even say you're spiritually inferior because of that.
• 30:28
  Anything else about being a Galilean that the New Testament tells us?
• 30:33
  What did they do?
• 30:34
  What do you think the main source of work was around the Sea of Galilee?
• 30:39
  They're fishermen.
• 30:40
  And typically this doesn't change.
• 30:42
  What's typically the stereotype, fair or unfair, about folks who are in the fishing industry
• 30:46
  and industries like that?
• 30:49
  Uneducated for sure, rough, blue-collar.
• 30:55
  And in some people's minds, they think about this is the Judeans, they're coming from all
• 30:57
  over the world.
• 30:59
  That's not a compliment to them in their mind.
• 31:03
  Yeah, we're going to see that when we get to Acts 3 through 5, that they're going to
• 31:06
  be amazed about them and perceive them to be uneducated men because of that.
• 31:13
  We also might say about them that they talked funny, and that must have been somewhat of
• 31:18
  a disparagement.
• 31:19
  Remember when Peter is denying the Lord and he can't really disown it because they say,
• 31:25
  your speech betrays you.
• 31:26
  Matthew 26 verse 69, I don't know.
• 31:29
  I've lived most of my life, I think I've said this, in Virginia and Colorado preaching and
• 31:34
  going everywhere I went, people are going, wait, where do you come from?
• 31:39
  You sound funny.
• 31:40
  Well, that's Galileans.
• 31:41
  Except it wasn't a southerner up north, it was the way the northern folks talked there.
• 31:47
  I think that just makes me feel good that the northerners had to deal with that too
• 31:49
  in Galilee, that they talked funny.
• 31:53
  And there's also Josephus and others would tell us that they were kind of hotheads.
• 31:59
  They were at the center of a lot of revolts and so forth.
• 32:01
  So here's the picture.
• 32:04
  They're sharing Christ.
• 32:05
  This amazing thing is happening and people are doubting that these guys can really help
• 32:10
  them because of their perceived limitations.
• 32:14
  You think you're going to run into that when sharing the gospel?
• 32:17
  That people think that you don't have the education that they have?
• 32:21
  Maybe you don't have, and by the way, in Jerusalem there's a tour you can take under the, near
• 32:28
  the western wall of excavations they've done of ruins of the Judeans' houses.
• 32:33
  I mean, they're palatial.
• 32:34
  I mean, the elite, the wealthy, that's how they lived.
• 32:37
  You didn't live that way up on the Sea of Galilee.
• 32:40
  We're going to find ourselves sometimes facing people's doubting of our credentials.
• 32:48
  What's the other thing they doubted or questioned?
• 32:53
  What's the other prejudice they had to face in our text we just saw?
• 32:59
  Toward the end?
• 33:00
  They thought they were drunk, right?
• 33:04
  Which is, I think that Peter shows great restraint in the way he answers that.
• 33:09
  How does that even make sense?
• 33:11
  How does it make sense that what's happening, because what does their assumption that they're
• 33:16
  drunk lead them to think that these apostles are doing?
• 33:22
  Well, did they think they were babbling?
• 33:27
  Modern-day folks try to think that that's what's being said here, but what do they say
• 33:30
  about these men?
• 33:33
  We're from all these different places, and we do all hear them speak in what?
• 33:39
  So don't try this out.
• 33:42
  But if one were to go and get full of whatever, and you could be recorded, and you were given
• 33:51
  the assignment, I want you to speak Khmer, or Hindi, or Arabic, and you've never done
• 33:59
  any study or training in that, is that going to help you do that?
• 34:04
  But that's the prejudice they face.
• 34:05
  We say, man, that doesn't even begin to make sense that they would say something like that.
• 34:09
  They would babble all right, maybe in their own language or with words that don't make
• 34:13
  any sense.
• 34:15
  It also doesn't make sense because they're saying that we're a big group.
• 34:18
  It's the morning time.
• 34:19
  Yes, it is the Pentecost Feast, but typically this is one of three hours of prayer.
• 34:25
  So devout Jews, men who are speaking about God and religious things, it's not very likely
• 34:29
  that's going to happen.
• 34:30
  The point is that we're going to face the prejudices of others.
• 34:36
  They were questioning their morality.
• 34:37
  Now here's my question.
• 34:39
  Are we going to face prejudices when we try to share the Gospel today?
• 34:43
  Do you face prejudices from the culture?
• 34:46
  What prejudices do we have to look in the face when we're trying to share Christ in
• 34:51
  our culture?
• 34:54
  Maybe it's the source of a lot of our fears, depending on how much media you consume, be
• 34:58
  it social or traditional.
• 35:00
  Yes?
• 35:01
  Okay, all right, so maybe a question of our morality.
• 35:09
  We'll say more about that in a minute.
• 35:12
  Yes, ma'am?
• 35:13
  Yes.
• 35:14
  So we live in a culture where Christians are, this is the picture that's painted, are what?
• 35:21
  Narrow-minded?
• 35:22
  Hateful?
• 35:23
  Judgmental?
• 35:24
  What are those?
• 35:25
  I mean, you know you.
• 35:27
  Are you hateful?
• 35:28
  Judgmental?
• 35:29
  Now I'm going to talk about that in the sermon this morning.
• 35:32
  We may deal with that sometimes, but is that who you say you are?
• 35:38
  But some of that's framed in what we're saying when we share the truth, even in its kindest
• 35:42
  forms, folks will feel judged, they'll feel guilt, they'll feel a lot of different things,
• 35:48
  and it may blow back on us like it does on this occasion.
• 35:52
  What else does the culture say?
• 35:54
  Christians are ignorant.
• 36:02
  It's a crutch for weak-minded people.
• 36:05
  They're ignorant.
• 36:06
  Christians are, what's the big one?
• 36:10
  Hypocrites.
• 36:11
  Why?
• 36:12
  Because we ain't got it all figured out, practically speaking, because we still sin and fall short
• 36:18
  of the glory of God.
• 36:19
  Christians are strange, odd.
• 36:25
  Now I think we can see this is our mission to overcome these kind of barriers.
• 36:29
  We're representatives of Christ, we're ambassadors for him, and so God expects that we can win
• 36:34
  people over by living consistently what it is that we're professing for them, 2 Corinthians
• 36:40
  5, 18 through 20.
• 36:42
  What about the Church of Christ?
• 36:45
  Prejudices?
• 36:47
  I can see the clock, and I know I can't go deep into these, but you know they exist.
• 36:52
  We have to deal with those.
• 36:54
  So what do we do?
• 36:57
  George Bailey was a gospel preacher.
• 36:58
  He's passed away.
• 36:59
  He often said this, and I think this was so beneficial.
• 37:02
  He said, what does the moon do when the little dogs keep barking at it?
• 37:07
  It just keeps shining.
• 37:09
  So what do we do?
• 37:10
  We keep living that life, and as we have the opportunity and the boldness to share the
• 37:14
  gospel, we demonstrate to them that those prejudices are not founded.
• 37:20
  They're not well-founded.
• 37:21
  All right?
• 37:22
  Number three, answering objections with Scripture, and I find this very helpful.
• 37:28
  Peter doesn't lose his temper.
• 37:30
  He doesn't get argumentative.
• 37:32
  He calmly answers their false charge, and we've already talked about that.
• 37:35
  He shows why this wasn't plausible for them to think this, and as such, he answers in
• 37:42
  the positive.
• 37:43
  He says, it's not this.
• 37:45
  It's the third hour of the day.
• 37:46
  It's nine in the morning, but this is what the prophet Joel had to say, and he takes
• 37:52
  that prophecy, and he shows how this was the fulfillment of that.
• 37:56
  It's so easy for us to try and defend ourselves and let people sidetrack us from the mission
• 38:01
  of sharing the gospel, but we can train ourselves to speak in the language of the Bible.
• 38:06
  When we are confronted and we are challenged on what the Bible says, we need to be able
• 38:11
  to give Bible answers.
• 38:12
  I didn't go into some of these a moment ago, but let's think about some of the common objections.
• 38:18
  Somebody will say to you, you guys think you're the only ones going to heaven.
• 38:24
  What's the answer?
• 38:25
  Okay.
• 38:26
  It's good.
• 38:27
  Okay.
• 38:28
  You've got to keep studying.
• 38:36
  We don't know it all, if you can't hear what Gary said.
• 38:38
  Let me say it again.
• 38:40
  You guys think you're the only ones going to heaven.
• 38:44
  Doesn't matter what we think.
• 38:47
  What matters?
• 38:48
  Okay.
• 38:49
  Anybody want to throw out a scripture?
• 38:54
  Is there a scripture that deals with that?
• 38:56
  Okay.
• 38:57
  Alright.
• 38:58
  See, I like this.
• 39:01
  Give us a passage that maybe sheds light on the objection.
• 39:06
  This is something we can develop.
• 39:07
  We can grow in.
• 39:10
  Anybody else?
• 39:11
  Okay, that's a good diving board.
• 39:14
  We've got to come through Jesus.
• 39:15
  We've got to know what Jesus' way is, and maybe we start walking through what Jesus'
• 39:18
  way is.
• 39:20
  How about Acts 10, 34 and 35?
• 39:24
  Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears
• 39:29
  him and works righteousness is accepted with him.
• 39:33
  I believe that everyone who does God's will and follows his way is accepted with him,
• 39:39
  and anybody can be.
• 39:40
  We have access to that.
• 39:42
  See, if we think about some passages, Acts 17, 30 and 31, the times of the collective
• 39:49
  ignorance of man God once overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent
• 39:53
  because he is appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the
• 39:57
  man whom he has chosen.
• 39:59
  How about Matthew 7, 21?
• 40:00
  Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who
• 40:04
  does the will of my Father which is in heaven.
• 40:05
  The answer is the only ones going to heaven are those who follow the will and the plan
• 40:10
  of God.
• 40:12
  It's been said before, I've told you it's not my slogan, but I believe in it.
• 40:18
  It's not a matter of who's right, it's a matter of what's right.
• 40:20
  Let's go back to the scriptures and let that be the determiner.
• 40:24
  Not our feelings or our beliefs, because that's just an endless loop that doesn't accomplish
• 40:29
  anything.
• 40:30
  Number four, I wasn't going to deal with this sermon, but we've got to be able to present
• 40:35
  a compelling argument, and that's what Peter does, and I just want to share this with you.
• 40:39
  He refers to what they could know.
• 40:42
  In verse 22, he says, Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved of God among you with miracles,
• 40:46
  wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, which you yourselves
• 40:50
  also know, appeal to the things that people can and should know, and use analogies and
• 40:57
  illustrations, things that people can relate to.
• 41:00
  He ties it to God's plan.
• 41:02
  He says the cross of Calvary wasn't an accident.
• 41:04
  It wasn't the result of God not seeing ahead.
• 41:07
  It was the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God that he caused this to happen so that
• 41:12
  you could be saved.
• 41:14
  Number three, he establishes their responsibility.
• 41:17
  You took, and with wicked hands, you crucified and you slew.
• 41:22
  We have got to make it not nebulous and disconnected and irrelevant to their lives.
• 41:31
  We've got to tie guilt.
• 41:33
  These folks felt guilt, and Jesus is presented as the one for whom all of us should feel
• 41:39
  guilt for his dying.
• 41:41
  We have to be convicted that we're part of the guilt.
• 41:44
  There's a method called the open Bible study, and I've used this on many occasions with
• 41:48
  folks.
• 41:49
  I know you can't see it all.
• 41:52
  The thing that matters is that cross.
• 41:54
  It's an exercise that you go to on multiple occasions throughout the study, and what you're
• 41:59
  encouraged to do in that is to write down your sins.
• 42:04
  Not so the teacher can see it.
• 42:05
  In fact, they go the second mile and say, I don't want to see it.
• 42:08
  This is for you in this exercise.
• 42:10
  Write down things you have done in your past that would have made it necessary for Jesus
• 42:17
  to die on the cross.
• 42:19
  That's what Peter's doing on this occasion.
• 42:22
  He also makes a claim supported by Scripture.
• 42:25
  The heart, and the reason, here's what I want to end on.
• 42:28
  The heart of this sermon, of Peter's sermon, is what?
• 42:30
  Anybody know?
• 42:31
  What's the main subject?
• 42:34
  The resurrection.
• 42:36
  And they were witnesses of it.
• 42:37
  That keeps Peter from being the guy who says, I don't know the man, 40 days later saying,
• 42:43
  I'm going to speak to everybody and tell everyone the resurrection of our Lord, and he makes
• 42:48
  a compelling case in the sermon that's preached.
• 42:52
  That's pretty much almost everything I wanted to cover this week.
• 42:58
  I may clean up a little bit of that with 42 through 47, it ought to make a difference
• 43:01
  in how we live, and that's the challenge that we face, and that's going to lead us right
• 43:05
  into chapter 3.
• 43:07
  Thanks very much for your attention.