The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Bold Faith

Episode Date: November 6, 2022

Bold faith is acting as if you actually believe that God is who He says He is and that He always keeps His promises.

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Doing good? Hey, I'm going to tell you, the 9 o'clock service was a little sleepy, so I need your help, but I need you to be awake. We're going to have a lot of fun here today. It's going to be good times. I'm in a really good mood because I'm having a great weekend.

How's your weekend going? It's going good? Mine's going extra good. We're in the fourth week of this five-week series that leads us into the next two years. It's called the Ten-10 life. It comes from John Ten-10, that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. but Jesus says, I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly. I'm having an abundant weekend.

On Friday night, my high school team won. Not the one I went to. That was 100 years ago. But my son plays for Providence, and so I ran over there, and he got an interception to seal the game, so that's cool. Then yesterday, my college team win. I think most of us in here, we're into it, right? Florida State won. George obviously won.

Alabama lost. Praise God for that. Now, that anyway, Jesus. is talking about. But it feels like it sometimes doesn't it? And guess what? Maybe he will give us a wink of his miraculous working power and even the Jags will win today. Because you know what Raiders are known for? Stealing and killing and destroying. And only the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus says, I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly. And one of the things that will rob you of an abundant life is fear. We're going to today look at Acts

chapter three and Acts chapter four, okay, two whole chapters. So the next three or four hours, we will be able to get out of here. And one of the things that was happening in and around the early church was based on the circumstances. There was a whole bunch of fear. And yet in the face of fear, the disciples were able to make bold steps of faith. And what we're going to see in these two chapters are four significant steps of boldness in the disciples that propel the church for the next 2,000 years. You see, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. And one of his primary ways of stealing and killing and destroying God's best for you is this

spirit of fear, because fear lies to us. And the way that you attack fear is simply this. Where the spirit of God is, fear ain't. Because where the spirit of God is, there is freedom. Where the spirit of God is, there is power, there is love, there is a sound mind, self-control. And so God will always do his part because perfect love drives out fear. But what we're going to see in Acts 3 and 4 is not only the Spirit of God driving fear out, but we are going to see regular, ordinary followers of Jesus take bold steps of faith

of obedience in the direction that he calls him to. You see, before you get to Acts 3, what has happened, the reason that the disciples are so afraid is because they've just arrested and crucified their leader. And so they know if they arrest our leaders, surely they're coming for us. They're kind of freaking out. And so the disciples are huddled together in this room. They don't know what to do. They don't have a plan.

And then Jesus just shows up. The resurrected Christ shows up. And he appears to over 500 people for about seven weeks in the place where he was arrested, where he was crucified, where he was dead, and where he was buried. But he came out of the grave. And while the disciples are in this room, the women go to prepare the body. and you know why they have to prepare the body? Because a couple of men prepared the body the first time.

So they have to come and clean up after the cleanup. Can I get an amen from the mama's in the house? That's what has happened. But when they get there, the tomb is empty, so they come running back to the disciples and they're like, he's not there, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive. And then a little while later, Jesus shows up in the upper room.

And he says, don't be afraid. Why? Because they're afraid. They're freaking out. They're scared. And then the Bible says that Jesus breathes on them. And if you read this, especially in light of COVID, you think, what are you doing? I'm supposed to breathe on people. And the Bible doesn't say how it happens.

I don't know if it's like birthday cake style. He gets them all together and, you know, right there and goes, one big breath. Or if it's one at a time, he's like, what's up, Peter? Peter's like, come on, man, how are you going to breathe on a man's face like that? But you see, what Jesus is actually doing is he is recreating the creation. Because God breathes the breath of life into Adam. He opens his eyes and he is face to face with his Heavenly Father,

and then he screws it up. So then the greater Adam, the perfect Adam, Jesus comes and does what Adam couldn't do. He lives the life that we ought to live. He dies the death that we ought to die. He is resurrected from the grave, and now he is breathing life into the new followers of Jesus and say, hey, we're going to do this again. And so they go out from that place. That's what's happening.

Then they go to the other side of the Mount of Olives. And before Jesus ascends to the right hand of God the Father, he says, hey, let me tell you what's about to happen, all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation, and don't be afraid because I'm going to be with you. The way Luke records it in Acts 1-8, he says this, and you will receive power. So before you come up with a strategy of how you're going to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, before you do that, you ain't going to be able to do it on your own.

So why don't you go and you wait, and I'm going to send you a helper. I'm going to send you a gift. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. In Greek, the word is pericles. Here's how you remember it. It's like a paracletes. When you play ball, it'll keep you rooted on the ground and you can change directions.

And I know that's dumb, but you'll never forget it now. Paraclete, that's what we need. So the Spirit of God can just send us where we need to go when we slip, sliding all over the place. And he says this, and when I send the Spirit, you will receive power when the Spirit of God comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

You won't be the judge. You won't be the bailiff. You won't be the prosecuting attorney. be the defense attorney. We don't need that. You will be my witness. And so sure enough, 50 days or so after the resurrection, the disciples are in the upper room and they're waiting, and then sure enough, while they are praying, there's a fresh wind and there's a fresh fire. And the Bible says that the disciples are immersed in the Holy Spirit. The tongues like fire come out of heaven and they land on the disciples and the disciples start, don't just relax here,

Baptist, we just do it by the book. And the disciples start, and the disciples start, and the disciples start speaking in tongues. And they start speaking. And here's what's crazy, man. It's almost like they're speaking Polish and everybody's hearing American. Okay? In their own accent.

That's what's happening. And it's the day of Pentecost. It's a big celebration. So everybody that had anything to do with Jerusalem, they were all there. It was like Georgia, Florida. We can talk about that too if you want to, okay? There was everybody together.

It was RV City. And then Peter is speaking his language and everybody is hearing it in theirs, and they're like, what is going on here? And then the Apostle Peter sees a crowd, and he says, ooh, I should speak. And so he steps up, and he preaches the very first church sermon in the history of church. And it was not a seeker-sensitive sermon. He said, you killed the author of life. But he is resurrected from the grave, repent and be baptized and put your faith in him.

and then 3,000 men that day put their faith in Jesus. So I'll tell you this, if you don't like big churches, you probably wouldn't be here. But if you don't like big churches, you'd have hated it the first one. It grew by 3,000 in one service. And that's just men. So there may be like 4,000 or 5,000 people there. And so now this thing is going and going and going. And what we're going to see over the next two chapters

are four acts of boldness that propel the church for the next 2,000 years. So that's the context of what's happening. So the next day or so you get to Acts chapter three. And it says this. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man, lame from birth, was being carried, whom they lay daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those who entered the temple. Now see, this is a good plan. This is a good strategy.

Because here's what this crippled man knows. People that are going their way into the temple probably have a little change in their pocket going to and jing-l-ling-l-l-l-l-ing, and they are going to pray. And if you could hit them up for prayer on their way in, maybe they'll think, you know what, if I do a good deed, then maybe God will give me what I'm asking for in prayer. And so that's what he does every single day. He's hanging out on the way into the temple.

Asking for alms. Verse three, seeing Peter and John, about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and he said, look at us. and you think, this man thinks, sweet. Anytime you ask for something and somebody says, look at my face, you think it's going to go good. He says, and he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold. You know why he says this? Because he's in ministry. He ain't got no money. So, you can laugh. It's true and you know. But whatever. That's not why we do it.

He says, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now listen to this, man. How many of you know that God has never promised to give us all that we want, but he does promise to give us all that we need? Have you ever noticed this too? Oftentimes the very things that we are asking God for are not the things that we need. This man says, hey, can I get some change? And he's thinking about, like, you know, a few quarters, some denary or whatever. Can I get some change? And Peter's like, oh, I got some change for you. But it ain't the kind that's going to go in your little purse. I got some change for you that's going to change your life forever and ever and ever amen. In fact, later in Peter's life,

he's going to write this down. He says this, that his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. You know what this means? If God hasn't given it to you, it could be because you don't need it. Let me put this in like Jacksonville speak, okay? That God will always give you everything you need to accomplish everything God has called you to accomplish. And you can't stop that, man. And so he says, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. The first thing that I see among the disciples is this, bold faith. They have bold faith.

I mean, it's one thing, if a man is crippled, he asks for some money, and you, hey, man, I ain't got no money. But I tell you what I do, I'll pray for you. I got good news. I'm going into a prayer meeting. And so I'll get together here in the prayer meeting, and I'll feel. out the card and we will pray, hey, I have an unspoken, or I'll pray for this guy out here. If it's God's will, maybe he can go to physical therapy and make his feet work.

But that's not what he does, man. He proclaims this thing out loud, boldly. Like everybody is listening and is about to figure out and about to see if he can be healed or not. I'm just going to tell you right now, man, if I find myself in the kind of place this man is and he needs a miracle of God, guess who I ain't getting to pray for me? A Presbyterian, an Anglican, a Methodian. this? Nah, man. They'll be like, oh, no, you can keep that. I want some of you fiery Pentecostals

in the house. You know what I'm saying? I want some people that believe in miracles. I want some people that are going to call down the fire of heaven. I want people not that they're just going, I want people like, slinging oil up on me going, come on, rise up and walk. That's what Peter does. Now look at here. After he speaks the word, though, the man still laying on the ground. Look at the next verse. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. You see, this is the boldness of faith. You know what bold faith is?

Bold faith is acting as if you actually believe Jesus is who he says he is and he always keeps his promises. So it wasn't just saying the thing. You can say whatever you want. But then he acts on it and he reaches out his hand. I mean, what if it doesn't work? And he's just dragging a guy along. But Jesus heals the man.

and when he reaches out his hand, that's when the miracle takes place and the man stands up immediately, which leads me to ask this question. I wonder how many miracles are still sitting on the sidewalk. Because we felt a thing. We believed a thing.

We just didn't do a thing. Look, as we roll out this 10-10 life, your thoughts about the unborn ain't going to help nobody. Your beliefs about first responders ain't going to help nobody. We have to do this. something about it. This is what he does. By bold faith, he reaches out his hand and look at the

response of the man. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple. First thing he does with his life is go to worship. If you know Jesus, you have experienced the greatest eternal miracle of all time that you were dead in your trespasses and now you were made alive and our natural normative response ought to be to worship. And not like a mannequin like some of you, like you just got, this fella jumped up and left his way to worship. And he entered into the temple walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement and what had happened to him.

Here's what I'm praying through the 10-10 life. I pray that the whole watching world will see the lives changed of the people that we're going to reach out to from womb to tomb and that they will be filled with wonder and amazement and it's what is happening to these people by the power of God. But your thoughts and feelings ain't going to change it. We've got to do something about it. Here's what I need you to do. I need you to go to our website and I need you to on there. It says 1010 life, click that and then there is a place where it says interest form. And I don't need us to just feel some things. I need us to click on there and do some things, okay? And we need a, we need a thousands of volunteers. And not the kind of volunteers like Tennessee that talk a bunch of noise and don't show up

to the big event. Come on, that's funny right. I don't care who you are. That's the best thing I'm going to say all day. And listen, man, if you're from Tennessee, God bless you, right? Welcome. These paved roads and indoor plum is nice, ain't it? All right. So, um, but now you can be part of a winning team. Come on, be a part of what we're doing. So listen, I want you to go to this. And wherever, wherever God is leading you, because we're going to fight, we're going to fight for the life of the unborn. And so if that's what you're interested in, you'll fill it out, and there'll be a link there, you click it, and then somebody from our team will follow up with you on what you can do. And this isn't just for the, this isn't just for women in our church. We need

some men to volunteer to go to First Coast women services. Because oftentimes when a couple comes then we need some men to sit down with these fellas and tell them, look here, dude, boys do what they want. Men do what they should and have these conversations, okay? So we need a bunch of them to volunteer there. If God's leading you to foster, then there's a place where you could click that button. And here's what we need in regard to foster care. First of all, if you're already fostering children, we need to know who you are. Would you text the word foster to 44, 1122, so that we could come around you and love and pray for and support you?

We also need people, and you've already responded to this, man. If you've got a business, if you've got a skill where you can help foster families, we need to know who that is. And then we also need an army of people that can just do anything, whatever, write a note, say a prayer, bring a casserole to a family because we want to surround every single family that God calls to foster. If you want to get in the war to fight to release children from poverty, in Jesus' name, we're going to internationally do that through compassion, locally through the Boys and Girls' Club.

you could volunteer there. Or maybe you want to get it in the fight in regards to human trafficking. There's a spot for you there. Or maybe you want to get in the fight for first responders. Do you know that the suicide rate among first responders

is exponentially higher than everybody else? What if God used to you to save a life or to save a marriage? And so if that's you, regardless of what your background is, that you would go there. Or maybe at one point in your life, you walk through a hell, a living hell.

And either you know somebody that committed suicide or there was a mental health crisis in your family or in you or something, and now you believe that God could use one of your greatest pains as a platform for His grace and ministry. Maybe you would sign up and be a volunteer there. Or maybe it's volunteer in our prison ministry or our special needs ministry or a senior adult ministry. Yeah, man, I need us to not just like think a thing. We need to reach out our hand with bold faith, trusting that God is going to do miracles through our acts of obedience. So you can go there right now

and you need to do it right now because if you wait until Tuesday you'll forget, okay? And so they're walking in he says, silver and gold have I known but what I have I give to you in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk, reach down and picks him up

and the dude starts hopping around and people start seeing this and a crowd gathers, another crowd. And the apostle Peter says, oh, there's a bunch of people here, I should speak again. That's what he says. I love Peter.

And so he preaches a sermon. This is the second sermon in Christian history. And if you look at the context of the second sermon, it's the same as that of the first sermon, which warms my heart. Because I pretty much just say the same thing here every week. He doesn't tell him, you know what, you're so special.

No, he says, you are wretched, crooked, and depraved, black-hearted sinners. God sent the author of life, and you killed him. But he was resurrected on the third day, so repent and be baptized and put your faith in Jesus. And on that day, 5,000 more men. surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Now here's why this is important, okay? Peter does not think it is enough to simply demonstrate the gospel.

He understands that you better also declare the gospel. We do both. Like, we hope and pray that God would use us to eliminate all human suffering, especially eternal. It is not enough to just feed hungry people so they feel good about themselves on their way to hell. What a waste of time that would be. You declare it.

and demonstrate the gospel. That's what he's doing. And so in his sermon, he says, you murder the author of life. Then in verse 19, he says, repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out. That means obliterated.

And then here's the 10-10 life. Here's the abundant life. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Now, here's what's crazy. He's preached two sermons and 8,000 men have come to Christ. And during this sermon,

during the invitation, he's being arrested and 5,000 people get saved. Have you ever thought about how this works? Like he's getting, I don't know how it works. He's getting handcuffed and run off and he's like, anybody want to surrender to Jesus? Raise your hand and 5,000 people. Listen, in our services, one Yeti cup rolls around in here

and 30 of you don't hear the rest of the ceremony. Like, what happened, okay? And they're not distracted. Anybody want to sign up for this? You might get arrested and go to jail, but it's worth it because you'll walk in an abundant life, a refreshing that comes from the, Lord and 5,000 men are like, we're in. And the church is often running. Why? Because of a bold faith,

which leads to the second thing, which is a bold witness. Now in chapter 4, verse 7, if you'll go there, Peter and John have been arrested. The Bible says this, and when they had set them, that's Peter and John, in the midst, and the midst here is the Sanhedron. And the way the Sanhedron, it was like the ruling body. There was a group of people called the Sadducees, and they didn't believe in a resurrection. And Peter is preaching about the resurrection of Christ. So they get the temple guards, and they're like, the Bible says they're very agitated or aggravated or frustrated. And says, arrest these men because they're talking about the resurrection. And the Sadducees don't even believe in a resurrection. And here's how you can remember this, you see?

The Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection. That's why they were sad, you see. See? You'll remember. Now, I know that's dumb and that's kindergarten, but I have given you two word studies now that you can remember paraclet and sadgesi. That's how I graduated seminary, right there, all right? So you're welcome. And so when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name did you do this? And then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit.

All right, let me talk to the charismatic in the house. All right, listen, when you put your faith in Jesus, there is one immersion in the Holy Spirit. That when you put your faith in Jesus, He deposits the Spirit of God in you forever and ever, amen, okay? But multiple times you are going to see Peter, who has already been immersed in the Holy Spirit, the word immersed in baptism are the same thing in Greek, okay? But now he's going to be filled with the Spirit multiple times over.

Now, listen, that the Spirit of God is not like a potion that you need to be topped off with every single week. The Spirit of God lives in you, and it's not really like you need more of him. The question is, does he have all of you? One of our newest youth pastors, Ryan Swett, shared this illustration with me in a meeting last week, and I thought it was very helpful. He said, if you took a balloon and you blew air into it and filled it up, you would say, is this full? The answer would be like, yes, what is it full of? It's full of the air that I blew in it.

But then if you took it and added a few more breasts, you would have more breaths in there, but it would still be full. Let me tell you where the spirit shows up. The spirit shows up where he is wanted. When you have the flexibility like a balloon to say, come on Lord, fill me up and use me however you would. If you say it, I will do it. That's what Peter and John are doing here. And then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now notice, notice where the boldness comes from. The boldness comes from the spirit, not from Peter. And he says to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple man by what means this man has been healed and he could have chickened out here. He could have made excuses. He could have been like, oh, my bad, I was just trying to help. It's not what he does.

Look what he does. Verse 10, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, that's not going to help his cause. Whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. You see, they brought him.

Here's Exhibit A. You don't believe me? Look at this dude. He's over there hopping, doing his little halal Yahweh over there. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And then here it is. And there is salvation and no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. That's what he's saying. He's saying, he ain't saved in my name. He ain't saved in our church's name. There is one name under heaven whereby we must be safe. Now here's what's crazy, man. If you're new to the Bible said, you might not. know this. Seven weeks before this, Peter makes this bold claim. It's at communion. It's at the Lord's table, the last supper. And Jesus says, one of you going to betray me. And Peter's like, not me, man.

I got you. I would die for you. And Jesus is like, look, before the alarm clock goes off, you're going to deny me three times. And he's like, no way. Sure enough, that night they arrest Jesus. They're taking him to Caiaphas's house, the high priest, where they're going to pluck his beard out, him in the face and Peter is following along and a guy comes up to him and says aren't you one of his disciples? And Peter goes, nope, not me. A few minutes later, a servant girl comes up to him. Says, I recognize you, you're one of the disciples. He goes, no way, not me. And here's what's crazy. That servant girl in the first century, she couldn't even testify in a court of law because she wasn't considered a citizen. And then next it says, Peter's warming himself by a charcoal fire,

that matters, these details matter, a charcoal fire. And a guy says to him, aren't you one of his disciples? And for the third time, the Bible says he curses and says no. So think about this. He says, no. I mean, what cuss word would you use? You ever heard the phrase cuss like a sailor? Peter was a fisherman.

That's what he's talking about. Now I know some of you would be like Butterfinger or whatever you say. God bless your ministry. It's one of our elders' wives. She's holy and pure. And he says, blank, no. and then as soon as that happens, the rooster crows. He denies that he even knows who Jesus is three times after he had been warned.

Now you fast forward about seven weeks, and he's standing in front of the group of people that had Jesus crucified, and they say, by what name? And he says, I'm about to tell you what name. There's one name under heaven whereby we must be saved, and his name is Jesus. What happened to this man? Two things happened. One, he had breakfast with the resurrected Jesus. He goes fishing after the crucifixion, and,

Jesus shows up on the shores and calls out, you catch any fish? And he's like, man, we ain't got nothing. He says, try to the other side. Think about it, man. He's a pro-fisherman. He's thinking, does this man not know? There's not sides under the boat. It's all just the Sea of Galilee.

Whatever, dude, throws it over, 153 fish. One of the disciples, John is like, it smells like Jesus. Peter, fishes with no shirt on like our elder Rusty, and he throws a jacket on, and he goes and swims to be with Jesus. And Jesus has made a charcoal fire. Here's why. You would not warm yourself by a charcoal fire. You know you hoity-to-dy-grin-hag folks, you know how much money you spend on that fancy charcoal?

That's this. If you were just going to burn that, you would just do sticks and twigs and stuff to warm yourself. And so what Jesus does in the Sea of Galilee is he creates the very environment where Peter denied Jesus, and he's going to give him another shot at the exam. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Because his grace extends farther than our denial every single time.

It changes. Peter. The only other thing that happened is he was in the upper room and he was filled with the Spirit of God. And God did not give us a spirit of fear, but he gave us a spirit of power and of love and of a self-control. And so wherever the spirit of God is, fear ain't. And so Peter is standing before these men. And he said, there is one name under heaven whereby we must be safe. And notice, none of the boldness comes from him.

A bold witness and bold faith does not mean being a jerk, man. It's not about pointing to you and what you can do. I'm reminded of the time years and years ago, Gretchen and I had. dinner with Dr. Billy Graham, and when I ask him, if you could preach one more crusade, what would it be on? And I mean, immediately, he said, oh, that's easy. Galatian 614, which says, far be it for me to boast in anything except our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and through him, I have been crucified to this world and this world to me. Peter is saying, bro, this ain't about me. This ain't even about this man that's healed. This is about Jesus Christ who has been resurrected from the grave.

So verse 13, now when they, the Sanhedron, saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were uneducated common men. That describes the staff of 1122. We're going to know superstars here. This is what they say. They were uneducated common men, and they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. May this be said of our church. There ain't no rock stars here. Ain't no celebrities here.

There ain't no super talented people here. A bunch of, this place is the island of misfit toys, is it not? I mean, look at your neighbor. That's what we're working with. Think about that for a second. They probably rode here with you, and you're like, oh, okay. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

My prayer through this 10-10 life is that the whole watching world, starting right here in Jacksonville and Jessup in Clay County, and to the very ends of the earth would begin to see lives, being changed. Babies being cared for. Mamas being cared for. Kids being fostered. First responders being loved. People with mental health issues being surrounded and loved on. Senior adults engaged, okay? People being trafficked. That they would be rescued. And the whole world would look, and they might not believe what we believe yet, but they would look at this and they would be astonished and have no opposition because of the changed lives. That's what we're talking about

here. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, here's what happens here, okay? This is what religious committees do. They're going to kick Peter and John out. Now they're going to vote on whether God can do the things he's already done. That's what religious committees do. That's why we don't do committees here, okay? And this is what they're going to do. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, what shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all in the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it, but in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them

not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. They're like, listen, man, everybody's cool with a good miracle. Everybody's okay with helping people. But you ever notice there's something about that name, Jesus. I mean, there's some people that would be okay with God. But man, Jesus is, the dividing line. And they go, so you just got to leave the Jesus stuff out of it. Verse 19. But Peter and John said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God

to listen to you rather than God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. Now, this is Fing Jude, just hanging there before my regular folk. This is the whole my beer moment of the church. This is what it is. Peter is standing there and they go,

you keep doing what you're doing, but you've got to stop with the name of Jesus, and Peter goes, here, hold this, watch this. Let me tell you what I'm about to do. And he says this. He says, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. He's not talking about what we believe. People believe all kind of crazy stuff.

They do. He's not talking about what we feel. People feel all kind of crazy stuff. Husbands, think about it. Sometimes people feel the same thing that conflict with one another at the same time. Help them understand that. So this is not what it's based on.

I need you to know that what Peter is saying is that our faith is not found in faith, our faith is found in a historical event. And what the early disciples saw was an empty tomb. What they saw was a resurrected Christ. And so he says, you do whatever you think you got to do, and that's between you and the Lord. But as for me and mine, we're going to talk about what we have seen and heard. There is a bold witness. So let me ask you this question, church.

Who do you need to tell what you've seen and heard? You see, around here to 1122, we've never tried to be a big church. We've always just tried to reach one more. Just one more. And where that one more language came from is this. In Acts 1124, talking about Barnumus, the Bible says this, and he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith that a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

And in the kingdom of God, a great number is just one more. And so you need to identify who's your one more. Have you been praying for your one more? And maybe this week you would take a bold step of faith to be a bold witness, and maybe you would share your faith. And that might be share an invitation. Not come to church with me sometime. Look at your phone. Look at your calendar.

There's no some time there. But pick A time. Meet me at 11. We'll run through McDonald's. We'll go to 1122 service because they'll need prayer if they do that. Amen? Whatever it is. You share an invitation.

Maybe you share your story. Let me tell you what I've seen and heard. I was lost and now I'm found. I was blinded and now I see. this is what Jesus has done to me. Maybe you share a prayer request. What if you're the person in your office that just said, hey, listen, I'm a praying, but how can I pray for you?

You know what a heathen somebody would be to say, I reject prayer? I don't care what you believe. Everybody wants some prayer when it catches on fire. That's a fact. Maybe you'll share another cup of coffee, because let me tell you what else will happen. Sometimes we get lazy and we give up on our one mores

because you ask and you ask and you ask and you ask. Don't be annoying, but be persistent. Let me tell you what happens, man. When the wheel will start falling off some lives of some people and it's coming, let me tell you where they run to. They don't run to their club buddies. They're going to run to that praying purpose down there in Cubicle 3. Yeah, man.

They had a bold faith, and they had a bold witness. So be praying for you one more. And then the third thing I see here, if you start in verse 23, is they had bold prayers. The early church prayed different. The Bible says this in verse 23. And when they, that's Peter and John, were released from jail, by the way, they still smell like jail. When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priest and the elders had said to them.

Because the group don't know. They don't have Instagram live. They're like, oh, my gosh, did you see what happened? No. So Peter and John show up, and their friends are like, where have you all been? And they're like, we're going to tell you where we've been. It's crazy. We were going into the temple.

And then this man said, you got any money? And Peter was like, we in ministry. We ain't got no money, but what I got I'm going to give you in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk him. Boo, y'all, that dude stood up, and the crowd would be like, John, are you serious? And John's like, for sure, man, Peter healed a guy. I can still outrun him, but Peter healed a guy. Then we got arrested, and we're standing in front of the Sanhedron, and we're a little bit afraid, but then the Spirit of God filled us. And when the Spirit of God moved in, the fear moved out, and they said, whatever you do, you got to quit talking about Jesus.

And Peter said, I'm about to tell you what I'm going to do. There is one name under heaven, whereby we must be saying. So what did they do? So they let us out, but they said we've got to quit talking or even worse things are going to happen. That was the report. It's not like a report. They just told the story.

And look at the response of the early church. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, their first response was prayer. What's your first response? Is prayer for you a first response or a last resort? I'm going to tell you what most of our first responses are, to plan.

I mean, think about this. Even in our church, Spirit-filled church, if Pastor Britt and I got arrested today, which I could get arrested with him real quick, okay? But if we were on the way to the Jags game and somebody came up and I cast out a demon and they spewed pea soup and it got on somebody and then they locked us up and I was like,

anybody want to get saved and 5,000 people get saved and then they finally let us out and we were gone for a few days and then we showed up and the leaders and the elders got together and be like, where you been? Like, dude, it was crazy. I'll tell you where we've been. We were going in and there was a demonel.

possessed guy and I cast out a demon, and raised up a dude to be healed. Then we got arrested. You know what? Most church leaders who do? We need a plan. You two can't go in public anymore. We need a PR strategy. You know what the early church did? They prayed. And look at what they pray. See, here's the problem if you plan first. Remember, John 10, he's a good shepherd. He speaks to his sheep. The sheep don't tell the shepherd what to do. And so many times we come up with these really, really good plans and then ask the shepherd to come bless our plans. That's not the way it's supposed to work.

We're supposed to first and foremost go to the shepherd and say, if you say it, I'll do it. Wherever you leave me, I will go. And then look how they pray. Their first words, sovereign Lord. This is comical. Here's what they're saying. You know what sovereign means?

God, we are acknowledging that you are in charge of all things and that you were not surprised by our arrest. Sovereign Lord, let me tell you most of us pray. Dear God, help me curse them, amen. That's how we pray. Not them. Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

who threw the mouth of our father, David, your servant said to the Holy Spirit, and now they're going to quote scripture. Listen, man, you want to make sure your prayers get answered in heaven. why don't you start with words that originated in heaven? You just pray the word of God back to God. That's what they do. Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed. And now they're going to move to the cross. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel,

to do whatever your hand and your planned had predestined to take place. And don't worry, man, don't worry. That word predestined, it just means to predestine. It's just what it means. God doesn't take a poll, doesn't take a vote. The sovereign king of the universe does what he wants with who he wants, whenever he wants, for his own glory.

And that should bring you great relief. Here's what they're saying. They don't look first at their circumstances. They look first at the cross. And they're saying, on this side of the resurrection, God, we can see that you were at work in all things, including the murder of your very own son for the good of those that loved him

are called according to his purpose. So if you can handle the redemption of all things and the resurrection of your son, surely you can handle this little thing we're going to through. Why? Because if the tomb is empty, anything is possible, that's what they're praying. Verse 29, and now, Lord,

here's their request, ready? And now, Lord, look upon their threats. Now don't look at your Bible, look at me. And what do you think? They're going to say, stop them, change them. That's not even what they pray for. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants

to continue to speak your word with all boldness. Now, if you're a consultant for this church, you would say, I don't think you have a boldness problem. I think you've got a PR problem. But we don't care, man. We want to be filled with the spirit, and we want to have a bold faith and a bold witness, and we are praying big, audacious, bold prayers.

And here's what they're praying. while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. On the first week of this, we gave every one of us one of these bracelets that's right here. It says 1010. And we said every day at 1010. And if you're up for two 1010s, which I am, then you should pray at both of them. How's your prayer life right now?

Are you praying these kind of big, bold, audacious, crazy prayers? Because I'm going to tell you, if your prayers are not intimidating to you, they may be a little insulting to God. Because what we do is not, we're not supposed to make a plan and then ask him to come bless our plan, but we want to be the kind of people. Like what if you added these very words? God, how about stretch out your hand to heal?

And why don't you bring signs and wonders that would be performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus? And God, here I am, would you use me to make these things happen? And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken. When's the last time, you've been shaken at a prayer meeting? They were shaking, like physically, emotionally, spiritually, shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Here comes again. Why? Because the Spirit shows up to people that want him to fill them up. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the Word of God with boldness. I need you to pray big, boldness. audacious kind of prayers. The kind of prayers that if God doesn't come through, then there's no way it's happening. You see, they had bold faith. They had a bold witness. They prayed bold prayers.

And the last one, the fourth thing I see here is this. There was a, I don't know what to call it, though, so there's a problem. Like bold sacrifice, but I don't love the word sacrifice. Because is it really a sacrifice to give up something that you can't keep, to gain something that can ever be taken away from you? Is that a sacrifice? Like if you drive by McDonald's to go to a nice steakhouse, did you sacrifice the McNugget? I don't think so. You got something better. So I don't love the word sacrifice.

I thought about calling it bold generosity. But how can you be generous to God if it's all his? He's the generous run that lavishes love upon us. So maybe the word is bold surrender. But there was a bold financial surrender here. He says this, now the full. number of those who had believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. Now, let me be clear

about this. This is not government-forced communism. This is voluntary sacrifice and stewardship. These things are very, very different. I told you this before, but you need to hang on to this. People think about money in three different ways. Some people think, what's mine is mine. That's called selfishness. Some people think, what's yours is mine. On an individual level, that's called stealing. When the government does it, it's called socialism. What the Bible would have us understand is what's mine is God's. That's called stewardship. God, it's all yours, and I want to glorify you with all of it. So that's what's going on here. That's what's going on. And then notice what happens. Their generosity is going to fuel the gospel ministry. First 33, and we're going to,

And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. And there was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses or motorcycles or second houses or cars or whatever these physical stored resources are. They sold them and they brought the proceeds of what was sold. You see, we've been spending a lot of time talking about what is first and best, what is trusting God with your first and best. And oftentimes what that means is, God, based on what you are going to bring to me in regards to income, I am going to bring to you the first and best of that. But they didn't stop there. They also looked in the rearview mirror to say, God, I want to honor you with some things that you have already bought to me. They trusted God with all of it, with some stored resources, with some land. So listen, you want to do something real bold? I dare you to do this.

I dare you to write down the five most valuable things that you have. And I don't mean like a picture of Nana. what we're talking about, okay? My puppy. And just simply say, Lord, what are you asking me to do with these? Are you, do you want me to hang on to him for now? Praise God for that, no problem. You do whatever it is that he says to do.

Or are you asking me to transfer some things from my account to your account for the glory of God? That's what they were doing here in the first century. And then they laid it all at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to each as any had need. You see, the church begins to mature. In Acts chapter 2, they just met one another's needs. by the time you get to Acts 4, they began to organize,

and they trusted the leadership of the church. This is what we are doing in the 10-10 life. That we will make a commitment next week, and we will say, all right, this represents God my first and my best that I am bringing to you, and then every single bit of it will go to church life and eternal life and abundant life, and we will distribute it to as any who have need.

Verse 36, thus Joseph, who was also called by the Apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, A Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles' feet. This was a bold surrender. There was bold faith. There was a bold witness. There were bold prayers.

And there was bold surrender, financially bold surrender. And those things, those two chapters, propelled the church for the next 2,000 years. What we, what you and I do in regards to the 10-10 life over these next two weeks will propel this church into the future. My mom was here at the 9 o'clock service. She came in for the weekend, which is great. And as I was preparing this sermon, she came on Thursday. And she came to the earlier service, and I was thinking about a very valuable lesson

my mama taught me about finances and resources when I was a little kid. She and I used to play board games together, okay? and board games will reveal things about a person. Do you know this? You want to know who a human really is. There are some things that were revealed. When you play a board game, you will find out who's the rule keeper, the rule bender, and the rule breaker, right?

Fasting will do that too. When we fast as a church, we find out who the rulekeepers are and who the rule benders are. Golf will do that. You find out who's honest and who's a liar. You understand what I'm saying. Okay, so board games will do that. And our favorite one to play was Monopoly.

and I remember we'd play, we would actually leave it set up for multiple days because nobody has ever finished a game of Monopoly. We were the first people in the history of the planet to ever finish the game Monopoly. And I don't know if you can pick this up about me, but I love to win. I mean, a lot. I don't even care what it is. And if I have to bend a rule or break a rule to win, I'll probably do that. You understand what I'm saying?

And I would always pick the car. Why? Because it's the fastest. My mom would pick the thimble. I'd say, ain't a way even win with a thimble. And so we start playing. And I remember the first time it began to shift in my favor and it looked like I was going to win.

Because I had park place. I had boardwalk. I had put some hotels on there. I put some houses on there. I had all the railroads. She had that little weak sauce over that Marvin Gardens or whatever, whatever. Fuchsia. I don't even know what color that is, you know.

And I remember at the end the little thimble comes bebopping around going by her all over weak junk and it landed right there on boardwalk. and I said, ha ha, you are busted, give it to me. I felt so good. I feel good telling the story right now. That's kind of weird, isn't it? She took all the money that she had. She pushed it over to my little side of the table.

She's like, you feel good, don't you? I feel so good. She says, why? It goes, because I won. She says, you won what? Then she said, let me teach you a little lesson. And she gets the box out, and with one swoop, she goes, it all goes back in the box.

Bloop. Go clean your room. That's what happened. You know what the disciples knew? It all goes back in the box. You won what? You won what? It all goes back in the box.

Am I going to take the things that God has given me and think that I am going to be a cul-de-sac of God's blessing or am I going to be a conduit of the advancement of the kingdom of God? Two weeks ago I was preaching at my friend J.D. Greer's Church and he's doing a generosity series at his church right now and we're kind of swapping notes and this past week

he put a flux capacitor on stage. Google it. It helped Marty get back to the future. You don't even know what it is, okay? Flux capacitor. And he asked this question to his church. He said, if I gave you $1,000 and you could get into the Delorean

and do the flux capacitor and go back to any year of your life, what would you go back to? And his answer was, I'd go back to 1997. And the reason he picked 1997, one, that's where he met his wife, but also,

He remembers a specific time in his life in 1997 where he had saved up enough money to buy two things that he thought were going to change his world. A DVD player and a Nintendo 64. Okay? And you know what those things are worth today? Nothing. If somebody gave me a DVD,

I wouldn't even know how to watch it these days. Like if it ain't on YouTube, you can't watch it. You know what else happened in 1997? Amazon went public for $18 a share. Can you imagine if he had taken his $1,000 and he did not invest in the DVD or the Nintendo 64? What would he have sacrificed? What would he have missed out on? A couple of techno bowls.

A little Mario Kart, right? That's it. Maybe he couldn't watch the original Tom Cruise movies, you know, Top Gun. But if you even invested that in Amazon, it was worth $18 today, I don't even, can't even do them. I'm not good with numbers. All I know about numbers is the book of the Bible, but I'm telling you this. He would gladly go back to the thought moment and say, why in the world would I chase after these temporary things when I could make an investment that would change the future? This is what the early church saw.

Now, they weren't prophetic and they could see the future, but what they saw was Jesus come out of the grave and tell them to take the gospel into the very ends of the earth. and so they were willing to take bold steps of faith. What's the bold step of faith you need to take? They were willing to be a bold witness to say there is one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. They were paying bold, audacious prayers to the point where they were shaken and the spirit of God was filling them to be bold. And they were willing to boldly surrender the temporary things of this world

for the advancement of the church, for the advancement of the kingdom of God. next week at all of our services, that's what we're going to do, and that's what these cards represent. This week, I want you to pray like crazy. What bold step, God, are you calling me to take? Because he's a good shepherd, and he will speak to you, and the words that he speaks to his sheep always lead to the abundant life, and that's what he wants for you. Church, what bold steps do you need to take? Would you please stand?

let me pray for you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. And God, I thank you for the boldest step of all that you sit your son, Jesus Christ, to come on a rescue mission for us. God, you walked through the door of our hardened hearts and you rescued us. You redeemed us. You boldly loved us and then are willing to fill us with your spirit that fear would flee and that we would walk in a spirit of power and of love of a sound mind of self-control. So, Lord, I pray for every man, every woman, every student in this place,

that we would be just average, ordinary, uneducated men and women, but we have been with Jesus and you use us to turn the world upside down. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, we're going to respond to the gospel. We're going to sing,

because sometimes when the Spirit of God directs you in a way, you think there ain't no way, but he's the waymaker. That's what we're going to sing. And we're going to bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best as an act of worship, and we are going to pray. And I would ask you, why don't we make this like the prayer meeting in the first century? Why don't you come on down and kneel before our God and our maker? And why don't we pray big, bold, audacious kinds of prayers to the point where the whole world is shaken?

So let us sing, let us bring, let us pray. Let us respond.