Sunday Morning January 10, 2021 AM

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Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church OKC Sunday Morning January 10, 2021, AM Sunnyside Baptist Church

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It's good to have everybody here worshiping together at Sunnyside this morning. If you're joining us on live stream, we're glad that you're joining us that way as well.
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We'll get started with a few announcements this morning. Come back this evening for our evening service, again that's at 5 .30
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p .m. And then this coming Wednesday, we're going to try the meal again for the whole church.
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Okay, for the whole church. So 5 .45, come for a meal, fellowship with each other.
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And then at 6 .30, we'll have prayer meeting for the adults. And then TAG will get started for the kids then as well.
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And then looking ahead, Sunday, January 24th, Truth Group for the young adults in the evening after service.
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Fifth Sunday, fifth Sunday evening, so not the 24th.
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When that? The 31st, okay, on the 31st, is that clear as mud?
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Special music night, yes, special music night. So if you have music or song or something that you wanna share, please let
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Lisa know and she'll work you into that service as well. On the back table for 2020, if you gave to the church through tithes and offerings, those 2020 contribution reports are back there.
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You'll look in the red mailbox that we used for our cards. Look in the letter next to your last name, those will be back there as well.
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And in the bulletin, it says that mailbox is gonna try and stick around. So won't necessarily just be for Christmas cards.
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If you have birthday cards or notes of encouragement that you wanna share with each other, feel free to use that.
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Also on the back, just because of COVID, we're not passing the plate through the pews, but if you have tithes and offerings to give, you can put those in the plate back there as you come in or head out.
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Church directory, we've had quite a few people get added to our fellowship here. So we're gonna try and get that reprinted soon.
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If you have any updates, please get with Tristan and call. She'll get your picture taken, and then we'll make sure that we get your information accurate to go in there as well.
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Our fighter verse for this week comes from Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 12 and 13.
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And now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your
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God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the
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Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good. So good verse to remember this week.
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Any other announcements before we get started this morning? All right, it's good to be together, to worship together.
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We're gonna have a time of prayer and preparation before worship. And then after that, Brian will come up and lead us in prayer.
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Our Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for this place, these people. Thank you for the privilege of coming together and opening our hearts to you in our ears.
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I'm hearing your word. May the Holy Spirit teach us, guide us, comfort us, hold us.
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And I pray for each one here today and those listening in and watching. Remind us of whose we are.
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And regardless of the chaos that's going on in the world, and the confusion, and help us to remember, but God.
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But God is able to do all things beyond our understanding, our ability to comprehend.
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May we place our hope, and our trust, and our faith in the creator of heaven and earth, and not in any man, or any system, or any thing made by man.
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Remind us that your son died, and was buried, and resurrected again.
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That there might be victory and eternal life for each of us who have come to the place of salvation and trust in the blood of Christ.
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What a joy, what a hope, what a calming peace. That brings to our souls.
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Help us keep our eyes toward heaven. We ask this in his name.
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Amen. Do you stand with me for our call to worship?
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We'll be starting Psalms chapter 57 this morning, in our reading together. Our words on the screen, read with me together,
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Psalm 57, one through three. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me.
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For in you my soul takes refuge, in the shadow of your wings
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I will take refuge. Till the storms of destruction pass by,
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I cry out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
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He will send me from heaven and save me. He will put to shame him who tramples on me.
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Selah. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
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Our first hymn this morning is on page eight, Praise to the Lord the Almighty. Sing praise to his name.
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Praise to the Lord the Almighty, the
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King of creation. O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation.
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All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near.
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Join me in glad adoration.
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Praise to the Lord, who all things so wondrously reigneth.
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Shelters thee under his wings, yes, so gently sustaining.
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Passer that see, how thy fine belongings have been, granted in what he ordaineth.
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Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee.
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Surely his goodness and mercy, your daily attending.
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Wonder, wonder, what the Almighty can do, if with his love he be friendly.
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Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore him.
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All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him.
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Let the amen sound from his people again.
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Gladly, glory, we adore him.
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Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of Deuteronomy. We'll be reading all of chapter 30.
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Deuteronomy 30, beginning in verse 1. Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which
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I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the
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Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey his voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the
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Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the
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Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the
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Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you. Then the
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Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.
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He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the
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Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
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Also, the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you, and you will again obey the voice of the
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Lord and do all his commandments which I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good.
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For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as he rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the
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Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in the book of the law.
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And if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. For this commandment which
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I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.
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It is not in heaven that you should say, who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it.
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Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say, who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it.
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But the word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it.
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See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the
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Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes and his judgments, that you may live and multiply.
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And the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,
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I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the
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Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.
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Therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the
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Lord your God, that you may obey his voice and that you may cling to him, for he is your life and the length of your days.
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And that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them.
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Would you pray with me? Lord God, we thank you for your word.
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Thank you for life and breath today that we might come together to magnify and rejoice in the incarnate word.
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Lord, I pray that you might grant us wisdom and understanding, that we might worship you in spirit and in truth and testify during our sojournings here to the reality of the death and resurrection of the only
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Savior and King, our Lord Jesus Christ. Truly these words are not far from us, for he has brought them to us and he has done it.
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We rejoice in him today and ask that you would bless our time in his name. Amen.
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You may be seated. So thankful for the word of God that's been given to us.
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We may know the one true God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Also thankful for songwriters that proclaim his truths, proclaim praise to the
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Lord. Today we've got hymns that are written not only years and years ago, all the way back to the 1600s, but we also have hymns written in modern, in very recent years.
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So we want to sing these all to worship and praise our Lord. And if you would sing with your whole heart into him.
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Love to hear the praises of the people to our Lord God. Our first song, our next two songs is in Christ Alone.
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It's on page 62 of your little hymnal, Hymns Modern Ancient, the black one. And then following that will be
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Amazing Grace, 202 in your blue hymnals. And if at times, if I step back to just sing very loudly, those that are online that are worshiping the
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Lord with us online will be able to hear your voice and that will encourage them as they sing to the Lord as well.
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Christ Alone and Amazing Grace. He is my life, my strength, my song.
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This cornerstone, this solid ground. Fought through the fiercest drought and storm.
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One dance of love, one dance of peace. When fears are still, when striving ceases.
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I know the joy, I hold it all,
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Christ I stand. I stood alone, who took on flesh.
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Flame, this gift of love, he came to save.
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Till on that cross, as Jesus died. Forever God was satisfied, for every sin on him was laid.
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Here in the death of Christ I live. There in his body lay,
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I took the rule my darkness made. In boots he fought, in glorious name.
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Up from the grave he rose again. And as he stands in victory, sin's curse has bought him
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Christ. This is the power of Christ in me.
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From life's first cry to final breath. Jesus commands my destiny.
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No power of heaven, scheme of man, can ever block me from his hand.
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He returns, calls me home. No power of heaven, scheme of man, can ever block me from his hand.
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He returns, calls me home. Here in the power of Christ I stand.
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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
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I was lost, but now
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I'm found. God makes me whole again.
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T 'was grace that taught me peace on earth.
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In my portion, he stands still.
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And through sin's last words, we make them to tears.
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He has the thorn.
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We all have space to say that when we first meet.
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You may be seated. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come before you today and we give you the praise.
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What else can we say but you have shown yourself to be a long -suffering, almighty, merciful, loving
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God of grace. You have been mindful of us so we know that you will bless us all because of your
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Son, Jesus Christ. I thank you for this.
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The joy and the blessing of singing together praises to you. I thank you for the joy of gathering on this day around your timeless, powerful, piercing word.
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We gather here together under the name of Jesus Christ, our
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Savior and our Sovereign. And that it's in his name that we lift our prayers and our hearts to you this day.
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Amen. I have already rendered my deepest apologies to our very skilled and talented media team upstairs.
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Now I render it to you who are holding next week's outline. Please open your
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Bibles to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4 verses 23 and following is where we will read today.
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I consider it a spiritual discipline for a church to walk through passages of the
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Scripture, books of the Bible or sections of the Bible, verse by verse, passage by passage, so that we continually, in a spiritual discipline together, bring ourselves under the sovereign headship of Jesus Christ.
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We're just not picking passages that we like, but we are hearing from the
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Word of God in an orderly fashion. But also being under the headship of Jesus Christ and being led by his
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Holy Spirit, there are some times I believe that he arranges something else, which is the case this morning.
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So rather than in Psalm 115, and apologies to Dwight, I'm trying to get to Psalm 116. I'm looking forward to that as well.
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But this morning, Acts chapter 4, and we'll be reading verses 23 through 36, or through 35 actually.
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So Acts chapter 4 verses 23 through 35. The title of the sermon this morning, and you can use the blank side of the handout.
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You see that's available to you. The title of this morning's sermon is,
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Cry Foul, Praise God. Cry Foul, Praise God.
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I invite you, if you're able to stand and hear the reading of the Word of God, Acts 4 beginning in verse 23.
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When they had been released, this is Peter and John. When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
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And when they had heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, Oh Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
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Who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David your servant said, Why did the nations rage?
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Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the
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Lord and against his Christ. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant
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Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.
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And now, Lord, take note of their threats and grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant
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Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the
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Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. And the congregation of those who believe were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.
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And with great power, the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all, for there was not a needy person among them.
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For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.
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It's just the word of the Lord. You may be seated. I suspect that you, as well as me, have been doing a bit of doom scrolling lately.
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It's a good word for it. Looking at all the different news reports of the things that have happened to this last week in the context of things that have happened this last year and so on.
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Everybody trying to get a handle on things. A lot of chaos, a lot of conflicting reports, a lot of censorship, a lot of confusion, a lot of yelling back and forth.
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Today, we're going to talk about cry foul, praise
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God. There's two things that we need at this moment. I believe that these are biblical.
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First of all, to recognize injustice, and two, to respond to injustice.
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Two things, recognize injustice and then respond to injustice. Those will be our two main headings.
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Under the heading of recognize injustice, and looking at this passage in Acts chapter 4, the lens through which we, the scripture is the lens through which we should understand everything else going on in our world.
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I want us to look at the current injustice here in this text. And then I want to talk about the crucial injustice or the critical injustice, the central one, but first the current one.
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And I think this is important for us to have the right perspective about last week and last year.
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And to be honest, to have a bigger perspective, what's been going on for the last 6 ,000 years.
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First of all, the recognition of injustice. As I was reading, you heard about Peter and John being released.
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Well, this is because they had been put in prison. What were they put in prison for? Well, of course, the charges were different than what had happened.
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Causing a disturbance, inflaming the people, inciting unrest, a commending insurgency, that the charges could go on and on.
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What happened was that Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer and saw a lame man who had been lame for decades.
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And he just asked them for some money. He was a burden to his family.
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He couldn't earn his keep. He couldn't earn enough money going out and working in the fields so that he could get his little dome of bread to eat that day.
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And so his family would take him and drop him by the gate, beautiful, at the temple. And there he sat day after day, decade after decade, begging for bread so he wouldn't be a burden to his family.
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And he calls out to Peter and John as they go by, and they say to him, silver and gold, we don't have any of that.
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We do have, we offer to you in the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk. And this man who'd been sitting there for decades, whom everybody knew was lame, rose and walked.
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He did more than walk, singing and dancing and praising the Lord. Isn't there a song like that?
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That's what he did in the temple. And everybody's, well, what just happened?
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And Peter and John know a good preaching opportunity when they see one. As the illustration dances before them, they say, this man was healed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you put to death on the cross.
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Who rose from the dead? And here's the gospel.
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And they preached for hours in the temple. And everybody's hearing the word of God proclaimed to them until James and John, or John and Peter are arrested for preaching the gospel.
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Now, what they charged them with was a whole different matter. The reason why they get arrested is because they're preaching the gospel.
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Perhaps they were described as being unloving to their neighbors. Perhaps they were described as endangering their fellow citizens.
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Perhaps they were described as purposefully passing along misinformation.
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Perhaps they were described as defaming the local authorities.
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But the reason why they were arrested and put in prison is because they were preaching the gospel. You see, it's always been a battle about the definition of terms.
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All the way back to Genesis 3. Who gets to say what is right and wrong? Who gets to say what is good and bad?
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So they get thrown into jail. They get thrown into prison. They are held there until they are brought out and questioned by the
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Sanhedrin, their local authorities. And the
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Sanhedrin doesn't know what to do. They actually have their own internal conference about the problem that is in front of them.
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They have a very clear miracle on their hands. It's undeniable proof.
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This man was lame and now he's healed and he was healed in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
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What are we going to do about it? They were in crisis mode. So the best that they have to offer is this.
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They've got Peter and John. They realize that these men are convinced, that they are confident that they have been with Jesus.
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And so what do they say to Peter and John? They say, stop it.
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You will no longer, you will no longer preach in this name. You will no longer preach in the name of Jesus.
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You will not teach in the name of Jesus at all. What we are categorically telling you, you are not allowed to talk about Jesus of Nazareth.
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You are now censored. And the authorities, the governing authorities have now told you this.
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They're in charge. And government is a minister of God to punish evil doers.
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But let me ask you something. Is preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus doing evil?
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Then do the governing authorities have a right to punish it?
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No, they do not. And so Peter and John in verse 19 of Acts 4 say to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge.
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For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.
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And they just, they release them. They've threatened them. They've intimidated them. They've told them what the boundaries are.
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And they release them. So that is the current injustice. And that's the current injustice.
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And what I want us to do is see what the response to that current injustice was.
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Now, critical to the response of the saints, at the very heart of how the saints responded to the current injustice is the truth about the critical injustice, the crucial injustice, that central injustice that was far bigger and far more important than the current one.
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Are you following me? How do we as the saints of God respond to the current injustice?
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We have to respond to it from the perspective of the crucial injustice, the critical one, understanding what happened there.
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So what was the crucial injustice? What was the critical injustice? Well, it was referred to by Peter and John when they were preaching in the temple.
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They say in chapter 3, Peter is preaching. Verse 13, the
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God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant, Jesus. And that is loaded with Old Testament freight.
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Covenant promises fulfilled in this Jesus, his servant, Isaiah 40 and beyond,
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Jesus. The one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release them.
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But you disowned the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.
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But put to death the prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead of fact, to which we are witnesses.
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That was the crucial injustice. That is the central injustice to all of history.
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At the very heart of history is a horrendous unjust act.
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There's a great book that was written by John MacArthur, The Murder of Jesus. And it's a great book because all it does is simply survey what happened in the gospels as we hear about how
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Jesus was betrayed, how he was, you know, he was dogged by the religious leaders, how he was betrayed, what happened when he was arrested, the trials that he, the one trial then to Herod and then back to Pilate, and then how the execution went forward and what happened afterward.
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And every, at every single stage of that horrendous event, these religious leaders who were so committed to keeping the law, they would tithe the dill and the mint and the cumin.
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They would strain gnats out of their wine in order to keep the law.
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This same group broke every one of their laws about how to do justice, how to conduct a court case, how to bring accusation, how to lawfully, legally bring someone to execution.
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They didn't do any of it right. It was entirely, thoroughly unjust.
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And Peter points out in his preaching that, that many of the people did this in ignorance.
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They were led to believe this was the right thing to do, but there were many who had done it knowingly breaking the law.
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In fact, they knew they were guilty of it. And Pilate is saying, this man is innocent and you're wanting to kill him.
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Why are you doing this? And they say, we have no king but Caesar. He said he's our king, but we have no king but Caesar.
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His blood be upon us and our children. They knew they were guilty and they said so.
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So this was an, this was an incredibly unjust act. And it wasn't simply that an innocent man was put through the ringer of every conceivable injustice until they murdered him.
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But this was the Messiah, the Son of God, the
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Prince of Life. No greater criminal act, no greater injustice could ever have been done than this.
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This is the crucial injustice, the central injustice. And so in the current injustice, where Peter and John were arrested for no good reason, threatened and intimidated, censored and then released.
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When they think about what just happened, they think of it in the context of the critical injustice.
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They think about what just happened to them, the suffering that they endured, the wrong that was done to them. And they think about it and make sense of it and respond rightly to it by rightly considering the critical injustice, the unjust murder of the
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Son of God. And I believe we should do the same. I think that we are to make this the very same approach to the current injustice, especially since we do not now know, nor likely will we know in this lifetime, to what level injustice was done over the last week and year.
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And four years and five years and so on. We're just not going to know. And anybody who has lived a couple of generations will tell you there have been a lot of unjust things done in the name of justice.
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This happens regularly. It happens often.
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It is widespread. It is a part of living in a world under sin, a world that is cursed among people who are full of sin.
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That is part of living here. And we have noticed, have we not, that many of the injustices that have occurred in recent history and in, let's be honest, long -term history, many of the injustices have been particularly targeting those who believe in Christ.
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So how do Christians of any age or even in the current moment, how are we to respond to injustice?
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Of course, we must recognize injustice. We cry foul, and that is perfectly fine to do.
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And in fact, that's what the saints do in this text. They did not say that the murder of Jesus was, well, depending on your perspective, you know.
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If you really had other people's perspective and their epistemology, it would be just fine.
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You know, it could have been wrong from one point of view. It could have been right. It's not me to say whether it's good or bad.
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This is cowardice and throwing off any responsibility as those made in the image of God to live according to the word of God.
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When the word of God calls something a lie, it's a lie. When the word of God says something is unjust, it is unjust. When the word of God says something is evil, it is evil.
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And we are to cry foul. But that's not the only thing we're to cry. We are to cry foul and praise
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God. We are to cry foul and praise God. And praise
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God especially is what we need to lean into since nobody here is omniscient and has all the details.
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Right? Sometimes you open up your fridge and you see that there are leftovers there from an unknown era.
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And when you inspect, you know it's wrong. But you are not a chemist to know how wrong it is.
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Nor do you need to know just to know that it's wrong. So when we recognize an injustice, it is not essential that we then detail just how unjust it is.
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What is our response? Well, the first response, according to the text, is prayer.
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When they had been released, they came back to the church. And then what did they do? They lifted their voices to God and prayed.
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They prayed together. And in this, we see them fearing the
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Lord. Not man. Now, man just said, you better behave and do what we tell you to do. But rather than fear man, they feared
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God. So what does it look like? Well, they came together and then they prayed together. And they prayed according to the scriptures.
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They begin to quote scripture. Do you see it? It is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
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Quoting the word of God. Who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of the father David your servant said.
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And then they're quoting Psalm 2. They're praying to God according to the word of God.
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And this shows that they fear God. Now, what are we to pray to God about?
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Well, we see that they are praying, first of all, in faith.
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God, this is who you are. The recent circumstances has not changed this. You are still
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God, maker of all things. You are God who said this is the way the world works. People raging against God and against his
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Messiah. They are praying in faith. My recent circumstances has now not somehow changed
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God. No, I'm responding to the recent injustice and the recent wrong done in my life.
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By praising the God who is unchanging and powerful and true. And this approach of faith is, of course, in agreement with asking
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God for justice. How many times in your reading of the
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Psalms do you find David crying out to God for justice? Many, many times.
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Even in Revelation, what do the martyrs beheaded for the faith?
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What do they say? Even in heaven, what are they crying out for?
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Justice or let's use the word they use in Revelation, vengeance. And what a right and holy and good prayer that is.
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They know that vengeance belongs to the Lord, that he will repay. They know there's all manner of wrongs that could never be fixed by man's systems of justice.
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Ordained by God, though they may be. There are all manner of injustices and wrongs that must be left to God to correct.
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And he will, and he does. Vengeance belongs to God. Let him take care of it.
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So pray to God in faith. Pray to God for justice. Pray to God with thanksgiving.
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Pray to God with thanksgiving. This is challenging, isn't it? Second, or first Thessalonians 5, verses 16 through 18,
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I know are familiar to you. Rejoice always. Oh, we've got a long way to go, don't we?
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Rejoice always. Not a question mark. It's a semicolon. Rejoice always.
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Keep going. Pray without ceasing. This is truly a life of fearing the
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Lord. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks.
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For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Many people have the refrain, I just don't know what
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God's will is in this situation. Read the Bible. It's not a big secret that we, in the fear of the
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Lord, are to rejoice, and that we are to pray, and that we are to give thanks. And that is a spiritual discipline.
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It is not something that will happen instinctually in your Christian walk.
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It is something that you must do. I remember an old timer telling me, like, he told me, I think he was in his 70s.
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I'm sorry, I just called a bunch of you old timers. He loved Jesus. He said, he told me one day, he said, he said,
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Michael, I wake up now, just praising God. I just wake up with a song coming out of my mouth.
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I just wake up, and I'm in joy. You know, that's, oh, praise
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God for that grace. Look what God does with a man, and transforms his life.
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But we must make it a spiritual discipline to do this. We are commanded to do these things.
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This is our response, and it happens primarily, initially, critically through prayer.
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And we are to praise his name. Isn't this what the church is doing and acts for?
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They praise, they praise God's name through the prayer. Look how powerful you are.
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Look how good you are. Look how true you are. They're just praising the name of God in response to injustice.
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So we have our, we have this direction. Not only is there prayer to God, but there is prayer for all men.
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They pray about Herod and Pontius Pilate. They pray about the nations.
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They pray about the peoples of Israel. They pray about those who have gathered together against Jesus Christ.
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They pray for all men. Now, in 2
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Timothy, or 1 Timothy 2, listen to this.
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1 Timothy 2. First of all, then I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
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This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. A lot of questions, right?
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Last week and last year and so on. What do we do now? Well, first of all, top of your list of how to respond to the current injustice, entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made.
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Even for kings and all who are in authority. This is good and acceptable.
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This is what God wants. And He's our Savior. Verse 4, who desires all men to be saved. Even the ones doing the injustices?
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Yep. Yes. Don't you think they need to be saved?
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Then pray for them to be saved. Many people had given up on Saul of Tarsus and Ananias, his evangelist, among them.
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Who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. There was one
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God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
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For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle. I am telling the truth. I am not lying as a teacher of the nations, the
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Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension, in reflection upon the central truth of the universe, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Pray for all men. Everywhere. And this is what God wants us to do.
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Now, when we pray for them, are we required to pray that God will bless their socks off?
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We are not. This would not be in accordance with the will of God. They're praying for their conversion, for their repentance, for their salvation, not for their success.
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Psalm 83 is a good example of David praying for all men everywhere, but not praying for their success.
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Oh my God, make them like the whirling dust, like chaff before the wind, like fire that burns the forest, and like a flame that sets the mountains on fire.
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So pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm. Fill their faces with dishonor, that they may seek your name, oh
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Lord. I'm standing outside the abortion mill four blocks from here, and this is what we prayed.
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God would destroy that business, make everybody who come there absolutely miserable, make the employees want to quit at all costs, make all their efforts like the
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Tower of Babylon confusing and inept. This is praying and fearing
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God and praying for all men. And this is number one on the list of our response to the current injustice.
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Secondly, is to proclaim. First response to injustice is to pray. Secondly, to proclaim.
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What is it that Peter and John went forth proclaiming?
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In chapter three, they say the very same thing in their prayer here in verse 27. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant
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Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the nations and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.
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And now Lord, take note of their threats. And grant, listen, that your bond servants may speak your word with all confidence.
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Do you see that? If we fear man, then injustice will make us want to be quiet.
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But how can we be quiet? For the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. How can we be quiet?
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When Jesus Christ in him is the life of men, he is the light of the world. How can we be quiet?
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God determines what is right and wrong and true and false. His word is the absolute authority in all these matters.
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And what is our job except to proclaim what God has said?
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And now Lord, take note of their threats. And grant that your bond servants may speak your word with all confidence, while you extend your hand to heal.
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And signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus. Do you see this?
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Now, Lord, you're going to do 95, no, wait, 100 % of this.
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We're not going to be able to speak unless you give us the boldness to speak. We can't speak unless you've given us the words that were to speak. And while we're doing that, will you powerfully do things that we can't do to make the authority and the reality of Jesus Christ clear to all?
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And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
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Another reason we should give Thanksgiving to God in our prayers is that God often uses injustice in the life of the saints to bring about sanctification for the saints, growth, boldness, courage, clarity.
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The first response to injustice is simply this, to pray. Number one on the list. Number two on the list is to proclaim.
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To proclaim God's sovereignty and then to proclaim God's salvation. See, we're following it up.
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We pray for all men that they will be saved, but then we don't wash our hands of it and walk away.
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We proclaim the word of salvation. We proclaim the gospel with boldness. Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the
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Father. He's been risen from the dead, having died on the cross and raised three days later.
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And he is the righteous son of God. And he is sovereign and he is savior.
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The only sovereign and the only savior. That we would, with boldness, proclaim the word of the
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Lord. That is our second response to injustice. And then the third, we practice.
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We pray to God. We proclaim his word and we practice what we preach. We practice.
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We put that into practice. What we've prayed, what we've proclaimed, we actually live. We follow through.
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It's one thing to pray courageously and boldly. All by ourselves or in the group that will definitely give us a hearty amen.
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It's one thing to proclaim and talk a big talk. Step three is practice.
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Put it into practice. Actually do what we've been praying about and proclaiming. And this happened in the life of the early church.
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In light of the current injustice, what did the congregation do? Well, you know, they started taking care of each other, which was essential.
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If you were part of the Jewish society in Jerusalem, Judea, you would be taken care of.
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If you were a widow, you would be taken care of by means of the benevolence that is passing through the temple.
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If you were a priest, of course, you made your living working and laboring in the temple and so on.
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And if you were a faithful Jew, then you could run your business and do good marketing with other faithful Jews.
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But what happens when you stop going to synagogue? What happens if you stop offering sacrifices?
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What happens when you stop following some of the ceremonial law? What happens to your life?
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Well, it all falls apart. It all falls apart. And there are many amongst the early church who had been in part of the injustice done to them had lost all these matters of support and these networks and these opportunities to make a living and so on.
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And so the church begins to respond in a way that is both practical and filled with faith in the words of their
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Savior, Jesus Christ, who told them that Jerusalem and Judea within their generation was going to be decimated and laid waste.
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And the temple would not have one stone left upon another. So, hmm, do
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I hold on to this property that's going to be destroyed and laid waste? Or do I use it for something else in God's kingdom?
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They're responding in faith, aren't they? They're trusting in God's word, the word of Christ.
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He told them it was going to happen. And it only makes sense that they're going to take care of one another and even take care of the current need.
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So they respond. They practice that. First of all, they're submitting to Christ and faith in what he said.
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And this translates into their love for one another. I'm going to take care of you. I see a need that you have.
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I am free to meet that need. And they do so in hope.
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You know, the current injustice must not be interpreted as the end of all hope, right?
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The current injustice where the Sanhedrin had taken Peter and John and told them to stop speaking by implication, everybody else of your rebellious group.
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So there was the opportunity, it wasn't there to become hopeless. But in light of the current hardship and in light of what was promised about the future, they put into practice what they were praying.
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And they put into practice what they proclaimed. So should we. Not to be hearers of the word only, but also to be doers.
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In light of the trials that we experience, that we give thanks to the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow, who always brings good gifts to us.
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That we would pray in response to these things, but pray in faith without doubting. And put into practice what it is that has been entrusted to us.
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I believe that's how we cry foul and praise God. It's okay to cry foul.
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And we are to cry foul. Wrong is wrong. Right is right according to God's standards.
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But if that's all we cry, then we're in the wrong. Because we're to cry foul and praise
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God. And in our praising of God, show how Christ in his glory, in his authority, triumphs over all.
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And that's our savior and that's our sovereign. Let's close in a word of prayer. Father, I thank you for the time you've given us in your word.
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Lord, I know that at some level, many of us have been taught this and more than once.
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We also know, Lord, that there is a need to hold fast, to take firmer hold on that, which we have been taught as we drift.
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So, Father, as we try to put into perspective the things that we are often concerned about,
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I pray that you would make Jesus Christ our central concern. Help us to respond in prayer and in proclamation and in practice that which would glorify you.
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We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?
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We're going to sing the chorus of a song we sang last week. King of the Ages. Let me read a few of the words to you, some characteristics of our
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Lord and Savior. King of the Ages, Almighty God, perfect love, ever just and true.
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Lord Jesus has been given a name which is above every name, the name of Jesus. Every tongue, every person should bow before him and give glory to God.
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So let's sing together, King of the Ages, and we'll sing the chorus twice. King of the
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Ages, Almighty God, perfect love, ever just and true.
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Who will not fear you and bring you praise, all the nations will come to you.
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King of the Ages, Almighty God, perfect love, ever just and true.
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Who will not fear you and bring you praise, all the nations will come to you.
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May the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.