7th Sunday of Easter Service

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May 12, 2024

Date: 7th Sunday of Easter Text: John 15:26-16:4 www.kongsvingerchurch.org If you would like to be on Kongsvinger’s e-mailing list to receive information on how to attend all of our ONLINE discipleship and fellowship opportunities, please email [email protected]. Being on the e-mailing list will also give you access to fellowship time on Sunday mornings as well as Sunday morning Bible study.

Ezekiel Part 38

01:40: Do you see the piano over there?
03:12: Do you see that little table in front of the piano? We can't do that.
04:26: Blue is your color. Red or blue. I gotta sing next to you.
04:51: Okay. At the end of the service, okay.
08:41: Sorry. I would like to welcome you all to Kongsvinger Lutheran Church.
13:32: Today is the seventh and final Sunday of Easter. Next week is Pentecost. And we'll be following the order of divine service setting two.
13:43: And the psalm tone today is psalm tone C as in Cowabunga. C as in Cowabunga.
13:50: So if you are physically present here at Kongsvinger opening hymn is 842.
13:56: Please rise. Divine service setting two.
17:15: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
17:35: Let us then confess our sins to God our Father. Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.
17:45: We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
17:53: We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
18:00: We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of your
18:05: Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name.
18:19: Amen. Almighty God in his mercy has given his Son to die for you and for his sake he forgives you all of your sins.
18:27: As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all of your sins.
18:33: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Psalm tone
18:39: C. Hear, O Lord, when
18:57: I cry aloud Alleluia. Your grace, Lord, do
19:03: I see. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
19:14: Whom shall I fear? Teach me your way,
19:27: O Lord. For false witness has risen against me.
19:45: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the
19:52: Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.
20:05: Amen. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud Alleluia.
20:12: Your grace, Lord. In peace let us pray to the
20:40: Lord. For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the
20:53: Lord. For the peace of the whole world, for the well -being of the
21:04: Church of God and for the unity of all, let us pray to the
21:11: Lord. For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the
21:25: Lord. Help, save, comfort and defend us, gracious Lord.
21:44: This is the feast of victory for our
21:50: God. Alleluia. The Lord be with you.
23:38: And also with you. Let us pray. O King of glory,
23:43: Lord of hosts, uplifted and triumphed far above all heavens, leave us not without consolation, but send us the
23:49: Spirit of truth whom you promised from the Father. For you live and reign with Him and the Holy Spirit, one
23:54: God, now and forever. Amen. You may be seated. The Old Testament reading for this seventh
24:05: Sunday of Easter is taken from the prophet Ezekiel chapter 36.
24:11: Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake,
24:17: O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came, and I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them.
24:32: And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you
24:38: I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land, and I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.
24:53: And from all of your idols I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit
24:58: I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.
25:03: And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my just decrees.
25:10: You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your
25:16: God. This is the word of the Lord. Our epistle is taken from 1
25:22: Peter chapter 4. The end of all things is at hand, therefore be self -controlled and sober -minded for the sake of your prayers.
25:32: Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
25:40: As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.
25:46: Whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything
25:55: God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.
26:02: Amen. Please rise. We'll speak the extended verse together.
26:30: Alleluia. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne.
26:36: Alleluia. I will not leave you as orphans. I am going away and will come to you, and your hearts will rejoice.
26:47: Alleluia. The Holy Gospel according to St. John chapters 15 and 16.
27:00: Jesus said, when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the
27:07: Father, he will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
27:15: I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues.
27:22: Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the
27:30: Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.
27:38: This is the Gospel of the Lord. The sermon hymn is 539.
27:49: You may be seated. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the
31:24: Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus.
31:30: Now, you've heard me say this phrase many a time, probably, if you've listened to me for any amount of time, and that is the phrase putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable.
31:40: Now, I've got to be honest. I first heard that from Dr. Rod Rosenblatt back in the days that I was attending
31:46: Concordia University, Irvine. In fact, the students of Dr. Rosenblatt often called phrases like this
31:54: Rosenblatt -isms. And what's really funny is that there's now people calling some of the phrases that I use
32:00: Roseboro -isms, which just means that Dr. Rosenblatt and others have paid it forward.
32:06: And in the future, when people steal these phrases of mine and make them their own, may God curse them by having them named after them.
32:13: But you get the idea. But the whole point behind that phrase is about mispronouncing the word emphasis and syllable.
32:22: Because by doing that, you mispronounce the word, and thus you err. And so you're going to note, when we talk about God the
32:29: Holy Spirit, we live in an era post -Azusa Street that is, well, the church is heavily infected in all regards, in all places and in all denominations, heavily infected by false understandings of God the
32:45: Holy Spirit that have as their source the aberrant theology of the Pentecostals and the
32:51: Charismatics and now today's New Apostolic Reformation. They are always putting the emphasis on the
32:57: Holy Spirit. However, listen carefully to the words of Christ. This is the night that he is going to be betrayed.
33:04: This is the night that he is going to be put on trial. And when he wakes in the morning, he will be crucified.
33:10: He has less than 24 hours to go to live on this planet. And he is giving instructions to comfort his disciples, and he is promising to send the
33:21: Holy Spirit. A few weeks back, we looked at one of the aspects that Christ said that the Holy Spirit would come to fulfill, the purpose of convicting us of our sin and our unbelief.
33:31: That's one of the important works of the Holy Spirit. But now Christ gets kind of to the nubbins, if you would, the central core idea of why the
33:39: Holy Spirit needs to come. And when he says these words, when the helper comes, whom
33:45: I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
33:56: So you'll note, we're going to put the proper emphasis on the right syllables here.
34:03: And we're going to note that Scripture instructs us to test the spirits.
34:09: Even spirits claiming to be the Holy Spirit. To see if they pass muster.
34:16: To see if they actually are truly the Holy Spirit, or at worst, a demonic spirit.
34:23: Listen carefully again to Christ's words. When the helper comes. Let me ask you guys a question. We're all familiar with having people who are helpers.
34:31: There are people who, well, they make enough money that they can afford professional helpers.
34:37: People who are helpers, are they front and center? Are they the people that everyone focuses in on?
34:46: No. Helpers usually work in the background. Helpers make it possible for the person in the foreground to do the things that he is doing.
34:55: And so you'll note that the Holy Spirit, Christ says, is going to come as a helper.
35:01: Helper to whom? Helper to the apostles. Helper to Christians. And so that being the case, the
35:08: Holy Spirit comes as our helper. And there's important things that the
35:14: Holy Spirit is helping us to do because quite frankly, we need good professional help when it comes to our lives.
35:22: And you'll note that a helper that is worth his weight in gold is a helper who knows even more than the person he's helping, or she's helping, that they know all the things that need to be taking place.
35:38: Oftentimes we don't even know what we don't know that we should know that we don't know, but we don't know that we need to know it.
35:44: Do you understand what I'm saying or are you guys just completely confused and you don't know what I'm talking about? But the point is that a good helper knows all the things that we're supposed to know that we don't know and then helps us to achieve those things by saying, oh,
35:55: I don't know if you thought about this, but there's this other thing that you need to take care of. And so you'll note a good helper does those things and that's exactly how the
36:02: Holy Spirit is described in Scripture. We don't even know how to pray properly for the things that we ought to do.
36:08: So you know what the Holy Spirit does? The Holy Spirit says, let me help you out here. And the Holy Spirit helps us, prays for us in things of this nature.
36:17: So Christ tells us that the helper is going to come. In the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches and in the
36:22: New Apostolic Reformation, the Holy Spirit is not the helper. The Holy Spirit is the focus.
36:29: The Holy Spirit is the one that everybody is focusing in on to the point where you wonder, is that really the
36:36: Holy Spirit? Because this Holy Spirit seems to be all about garnering attention and glory for Himself. Yet Christ says that the helper, when
36:43: He comes, He's going to be a helper. He proceeds from the Father and He will bear witness about who?
36:50: Christ. So back in the day when I was in seminary and I also remember hearing this when
36:57: I was at Concordia University, a proper understanding of the Holy Spirit is a good way to think about it.
37:03: Not only is He a helper, but He's obsessed with telling you about Jesus.
37:09: Bearing witness about Christ. And you'll note that we are as Christ's disciples called to also bear witness about Christ to speak the truth.
37:22: In fact, the Holy Spirit is described as what? The spirit of truth here. Have you noticed that the
37:28: Charismatic Pentecostal churches are not really known for trafficking in truth? They're known for trafficking in bald -faced lies.
37:36: Huge misunderstandings of Scripture and flat -out rank Scripture twisting.
37:43: I would note that I've got a sermon review coming up on Fighting for the
37:48: Faith where I'm going to be covering a sermon by Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California, where he legitimately argues that if you do not perform miracles, you are disobeying
38:01: Christ and Christ will say to you on the last day, depart from me, I never knew you. That's not to put pressure on you, but I assure you,
38:11: I have never once performed a single miracle. And this doesn't count. As miraculous as that is, it doesn't count.
38:18: I've never performed a miracle. Should I assume that I am therefore doomed, Del? That doesn't sound like the spirit of truth to me.
38:27: So what I thought I would do, you'll note that at the beginning of chapter 16, Jesus says these words,
38:33: I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away. Christ knows full well what the apostles are going to be facing after his ascension into heaven.
38:41: So they will put you out of the synagogues, indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he's offering a service to God.
38:47: And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor have they known me. But I said these things to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.
38:58: Christ prepares them. He says in this text, I'm sending the Holy Spirit, he's going to be a helper, he's the spirit of truth, he's going to bear witness about me, and by the way, all of this
39:07: I'm telling you so that you don't fall away. And I would note, when you look at the immediate fulfillment of Christ's prophecy here that he gave on Monday, Thursday, it's actually quite stunning and helps us put the proper emphasis on the correct syllable.
39:24: If you will just bear with me a little bit here, you'll note that we don't have Sunday school, so I thought maybe we can work our way through a couple of chapters of Acts today, what do you think?
39:33: I cheat. Rosebud is always cheating, got to get some more word in there. In the book of Acts chapter 3, you'll note next
39:40: Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, we're going to have a focus on Acts chapter 2. But let's look at the immediate aftermath of the day of Pentecost.
39:49: And at the very tail end of Acts chapter 2, it says this, after everyone's baptized, after Peter preaches that great sermon that leads to a whole bunch of people repenting and trusting in Christ, and it says this of the brand new baptized
40:04: Christians. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
40:13: Hmm, that sounds like the divine service to me. Because you'll note, the divine service here, we are devoted to the apostles teaching, our fellowship together, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.
40:26: Isn't that interesting? It doesn't matter if you have a nice building or not, or even if you own hymnals.
40:32: If you have the apostles teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers, well, you got church.
40:39: And this is a very portable, inexpensive model, I want to make that clear. And it says this, all came upon every soul, and listen to the next words, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
40:57: That's going to be re -emphasized in Acts chapter 5, by the way. But you're going to note here, who was primarily performing the miracles in the earliest church?
41:08: It was the apostles. And you'll note, when you read the book of Acts, it's pretty rare to see an ordinary, garden -variety disciple of Jesus performing signs and wonders.
41:21: And so the text makes it clear here, that it's the apostles who were primarily performing the signs and wonders, who's doing that work?
41:29: Christ is, through the spirit whom he sent, to validate his message of the gospel in the mouths of his apostles.
41:39: In fact, the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians makes it clear, he says to the church in Corinth, who was challenging his apostleship, that he performed the signs of an apostle in their presence.
41:50: These are the signs of the apostles, validating the fact that they were sent by Christ. And it is not true that ordinary, grass -roots, garden -variety
42:00: Christians are expected by Christ to do the same. If he expected us to do the same, then the
42:07: Holy Spirit would be working that in us, and, well, miracles would be as common as fish in the sea.
42:14: Right? And so we'll note, miracles are actually kind of rare. And rightfully so in our days.
42:21: So, here's where the text goes. And listen carefully to our theme. Again, the spirit of truth, who's the helper, who's bearing witness about Christ.
42:32: See if you can see what's happening here, because this is the Holy Spirit working in the background.
42:37: Acts chapter 3. Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
42:43: And a man who was lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.
42:53: At the conclusion of this portion of the text, we're going to hear that this fellow was more than 40 years old.
43:00: Now, it's a little bit annoying to say that, because one of the things I've noticed in Scripture, especially in the
43:05: New Testament, when it talks about people over 40 years old, it talks about them in such terms as if somehow they're really old and ancient.
43:12: Well, I just turned 56. I mean, I wonder if I should start looking at a nursing home at this point, according to the biblical way it describes age.
43:20: But that's a whole other point. But you'll note, he's more than 40 years old, and that being the case, he was laid daily at the beautiful gate of the temple, which means this.
43:31: Jesus saw this guy every time he went into the temple.
43:37: And you know what? Jesus never healed him. Until this takes place.
43:45: Keep this in mind. So, he was laid at the beautiful gate to ask for alms of those entering the temple.
43:51: Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. Peter directed his gaze at him, as did
43:58: John, and said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
44:04: But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
44:14: And he took him by the right hand, raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
44:22: You'll note that throughout the scriptures, apostolic quality healings are, well, undeniable.
44:33: We'll talk a little bit more about this in a minute. Everybody knew that a miracle had taken place. This fellow, who was lame from birth, was able to rise up and walk.
44:43: And Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up. His feet and ankles were made strong. And then leaping up, he stood and began to walk.
44:51: And he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising
44:57: God. And you'll note that this is quite the strategic miracle, if you think about it. Because this is a fellow who everybody going into the temple would have seen and would have been familiar with.
45:07: And they had to go into the temple with some regularity, as required by the Mosaic Covenant. And so everybody knew who this fellow was.
45:15: They could recognize his face. They knew that he was lame. And there he was, leaping and walking and praising
45:23: God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. They recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms.
45:30: And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him. And all the Pentecostals at this point are going to put the emphasis on this syllable.
45:40: Oh, look at this power! This is what needs to be happening in the church today. And they will berate churches like our churches.
45:48: Oh, that Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, it's a dead church. They don't even have the Spirit. How do we know? Because they don't have the lame walking and leaping and stuff like that in their church.
45:57: To which I say, you don't have it either. The miracles that you claim are happening in your church are nothing but cheap, tawdry parlor tricks.
46:09: It's completely deniable that you're even experiencing the miraculous. I do find it fascinating that Bill Johnson at least is honest enough to say that he's not good at this.
46:23: But that's a whole other story. So, is this where we should put the emphasis on this syllable?
46:30: No. Because you'll note that the Holy Spirit is the one who worked for the purpose of this man's healing.
46:37: Why? To draw attention to the apostles and the message that they are going to speak.
46:44: And who is Peter going to preach about? Is he going to sit there and go, did you see that miracle? Would you like to have miracles in your life?
46:51: You can have your best life now. The Holy Spirit's looking for people who are willing to invite him in, be baptized in the
46:57: Holy Spirit so that they too can experience perfect health. Is that his message? Nope.
47:04: What's he going to be preaching? Christ and Him crucified for our sins.
47:10: And I would note here in the next chapter we're going to see very clearly a little aside in the text that makes it clear to us how
47:19: Peter is able to preach with such boldness the message that he preaches.
47:25: And if you think it has something to do with the Holy Spirit, you'd be right. So listen to what follows next.
47:30: And this is where we put the emphasis. While he, this man now formerly lame, clung to Peter and John, all the people were utterly astounded.
47:40: They ran together to them to the portico called Solomon's. And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people.
47:46: Here's where the real miracle takes place. Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
47:59: Peter makes it very clear. It's not by his own power or by his piety that this man received the miracle.
48:07: Instead, he gives the proper credit where the credit is due. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
48:13: God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, he's glorified his servant Jesus whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.
48:24: But you, you denied the Holy One, the Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and you killed the author of life.
48:35: Well, that doesn't make me feel very good about myself. I could see this. If Peter were preaching this today, oh, social media would be a buzz.
48:45: And people would be criticizing him on this ground. Look at what he is doing.
48:50: There are people in the crowd there. They weren't even there on Friday morning when Jesus was on trial and he's making them guilty of murdering
48:59: Jesus. How arbitrary, how capricious, how unjust. He's making slanderous false charges against these people and putting
49:08: Jesus' blood on them when they weren't even there. They were sleeping in on Friday. You know
49:16: I'm right, okay? Because that's how social media works. They always look for that tiny little thing where they can undo the preaching of truth.
49:27: Let me ask you this. Since this is written for us in Scripture and Scripture, all
49:32: Scripture, according to the Apostle Paul who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he says all Scripture is theanoustos.
49:39: It's God -breathed. Why would God the Holy Spirit give words like this to Peter that are then recorded here in the
49:49: Scriptures where Peter is just arbitrarily accusing everybody of being guilty of killing
49:55: Jesus? Because by implication, if what he's saying is true, that would mean I'm guilty of murdering the author of life.
50:06: That's the point. By his arbitrary, very broad brush that he is painting with, you'll note then that when you go back into the
50:20: Good Friday texts and you read of the crowd calling for the release of Barabbas and them saying, crucify
50:30: Christ. And Pilate saying, why? What evil has he done?
50:35: And they saying, crucify him. And he said, will his blood be on you? And they responded, will his blood be on us and on our children?
50:45: That that crowd is our representative in the same way that Adam was our representative.
50:54: What they spoke, they spoke for us. That means that I, as well as you, we rightfully can be condemned as those who have killed the author of life.
51:10: We are the ones who asked for a murderer to be released. We are the one who denied the
51:15: Holy and the Righteous One. We are the ones who asked for a murderer to be granted to us instead.
51:24: Now, a little bit of a note here. That would mean that we're all guilty of the greatest murder in all of human history.
51:30: And we are. Your sins and my sins were laid on Christ. But you're going to note there's something different about the blood of Jesus.
51:38: It's not quite like the blood of faithful Abel. Abel was murdered by his brother
51:44: Cain and Abel's blood cried to God from the ground. And Jesus' blood similarly cries to God from, well, the base of Golgotha, from the foot of the cross.
51:58: But his blood does more than just call out our guilt. And the point is this, is that Peter is not going to merely say that they are guilty of murdering
52:09: Jesus, the author of life, and therefore they should just expect the wrath of God.
52:15: He knows full well that Jesus' blood is kind of like a double -edged sword.
52:20: It cuts in two different directions, if you would. Jesus' blood truly does condemn those who persist in sin and unbelief.
52:28: And every human being is guilty of the murder of Christ. Indeed, Christ's blood does condemn.
52:35: But for those who through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the gospel preached to them, are granted repentance and faith from the
52:44: Holy Spirit, Christ's blood no longer condemns them.
52:50: It is Christ's blood that washes away their iniquity and their guilt and their sin.
52:56: Your sin and my sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ. And it is
53:01: His blood that is the active detergent that has taken our filthy clothes and made them white in His blood.
53:11: And so you'll note that Peter here in preaching starts off with some pretty heavy law, so heavy that it crushes, and it's designed to do that, crushes any inkling of self -righteousness, crushes any pretense of innocence, and instead makes everybody guilty of murdering the author of life.
53:33: But then he says these words, But God raised Him from the dead, to this we are witnesses. At His name, by faith in His name, in Jesus, He has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
53:46: And faith, that is through Jesus, has given this man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
53:53: And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what
53:59: God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He thus fulfilled.
54:06: So repent therefore. Turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the
54:15: Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring of all things about which
54:24: God spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets long ago. And there it is, the call to repent, the call to turn from your sins, and the promise that their sins would be blotted out for the sake of the one that they murdered, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who bled and died in their place on the cross, so that times of refreshing may come from God.
54:46: God does not wish for you to experience the torment of hell. Everybody who ends up in hell ends up there by their own will.
54:55: Keep that in mind. God does not will for anybody to be in hell. Instead, He wills that times of refreshing may come through the gospel, the good news that we've been reconciled to God, that the hostilities are over, and that Christ Himself has made peace with God through His blood, so that the times of refreshing may come, beginning with the times of forgiveness, mercy, and grace, and peace that comes from the gospel, and culminating in the consummation of time, when we will experience the refreshing Sabbath rest of the new earth in a world without end.
55:33: All of this from God. Who's Peter preaching about again?
55:40: Christ. And the Holy Spirit is empowering him to do so, giving him the strength to do it.
55:46: He then continues, Moses said, the Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers, and you shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
55:57: And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.
56:04: And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaim these days.
56:09: You'll note that the words of Revelation come ringing in here. Revelation says the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
56:19: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And here, the Apostle Peter affirms that from Moses all the way through all the
56:27: Old Testament prophets, they were prophesying about who? Christ. And who was it that empowered them to prophesy about the future coming
56:37: Messiah? It was none other than the Holy Spirit who inspired their words and carried them along and gave them those words.
56:43: And so he says then, you are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham and to your offspring shall the families of the earth be blessed.
56:51: So God, having raised up his servant, sent him first to you to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.
57:02: Zing! What a sermon! And a little bit of a note here. I am a sermonator.
57:09: I know what it means to put a sermon together. I didn't say terminator, okay?
57:14: I'm a sermonator. I do this for a living. And I can tell you, a lot of prep goes into a sermon.
57:22: You have to study the text. You have to translate the text. You have to ask yourself the question, what does the audience, what does the congregation need to hear?
57:31: How am I going to weave the gospel into this? What is this text saying? How do I make sure I rightly handle it?
57:36: And there's a lot of prep that goes into this. Peter, off the cuff, with no sermon prep at all, hits a grand slam home run.
57:49: And I look at this as a sermonator and go, dang, how'd he do that? Right?
57:56: The answer is, he did it through the helper. The Holy Spirit was helping him.
58:04: That's how he was able to nail that landing and score the perfect ten.
58:10: Hit the grand slam with that home run. You get the idea. Well, remember this,
58:16: Christ prophesied in the gospel text for today. He said this, he says,
58:22: I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogue. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he's offering a service to God.
58:32: And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor have they known me.
58:38: So chapter four then, no good deed going unpunished, begins with these words. As they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the
58:47: Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
59:01: Do you see the cognitive dissonance at this point? You'll note, I used the metaphor last week that we are all snake bit and the venom of the serpent runs through us.
59:11: In fact, it's the venom of the serpent that's running through these people that are causing them to be so blind to what's really going on here.
59:18: I mean, just step back for a second. A guy lame from birth, over 40, which means he's ancient.
59:24: He has just been healed and is leaping and praising God and all the people are praising God and you're annoyed because this healing took place in the name of Jesus and they were preaching
59:35: Christ and him crucified, the forgiveness of sins and promising people to be raised from the dead on the last day by belief in Jesus.
59:42: You're annoyed by this? The miracle speaks for itself, doesn't it? Right? But they were greatly annoyed, the text says.
59:51: So, they arrested them and the them here is going to include Peter and John and the fellow who was healed.
01:00:02: No, no, no, no. Enough of this. All of you are you three in prison for the night.
01:00:09: Does any of that make any sense to you? And my question is, where did churchmen get this authority to arrest people?
01:00:15: Okay. How can there be such a confusing of the right and the left hand kingdom? We don't have a brig here at Kong's Finger.
01:00:25: Just saying. Not for children and not for adults. We have to make that clear. So, they put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
01:00:37: But many of those, listen to this, many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of men came to about 5 ,000.
01:00:46: That little note in verse 4 of chapter 4 is not a little note. Faith comes by hearing.
01:00:52: Hearing by the word of Christ. God, the Holy Spirit, promises to be active with the preaching of the gospel and the gospel is the good news that Christ bled and died for our sins and he will forgive everyone who believes in him.
01:01:06: So, note here the Holy Spirit was quite active that day so that now the number of people at church, and there's only one congregation at this point, has more than 5 ,000 men.
01:01:18: How many women? How many children are part of this? This is like a ginormous mega church, right?
01:01:25: Which is going to have problems of its own, but that's for other chapters. And so on the next day, their rulers and their elders and their scribes gathered together in Jerusalem.
01:01:37: Another impromptu church council meeting. And so, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who are the high priestly family and when they set themselves in the midst, they inquired, and here's the first question out of their mouths for this interrogation.
01:01:55: By what power or what name did you do this?
01:02:03: What a question. We're now referring to the healing of a lame man as this.
01:02:11: It's not a safe question, is it? But listen to the next words, the opening of verse 8.
01:02:18: Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. If you listen to today's modern charismatics, when you hear the words, filled with the
01:02:27: Holy Spirit, the next words should be, then fell on the ground, slain in the spirit, started barking like a dog, meowing like a cat, and behaving like a chicken.
01:02:37: And all the people were amazed at how drunk he was in the spirit. He began speaking in gibberish, and you can hear him crying at the top of his lungs, coulda bought a
01:02:48: Hyundai, shoulda bought a Kia, right? That's what happens when people are filled with the spirit, right?
01:02:55: No. Jesus said, when the helper comes, he, the spirit of truth, will bear witness about me.
01:03:06: So let's see what Peter does with this immediate filling of the Holy Spirit.
01:03:12: Peter, filled with the spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we're being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, well then 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, whom
01:03:31: God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. Zing!
01:03:38: Wow! Total.
01:03:46: He's unafraid. This is courage and boldness that is rare in humanity.
01:03:52: These are the people who can put Peter to death. These are the people that Peter was afraid of! Right? On the night that Jesus was betrayed, so much so that a girl, a servant girl, aren't you also with the
01:04:06: Nazarene? I never knew the man, never knew him. What are you talking about? Right? This same
01:04:12: Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, is now preaching with such boldness that he has properly laid the murder of Christ at the feet of those who conspired to kill him.
01:04:23: And it says, whom you crucified, it's by his name this man has been healed, but God raised him from the dead, and by Jesus this man is standing before you well.
01:04:34: This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
01:04:41: And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
01:04:54: I mean, this puts Martin Luther's Here I Stand speech to shame. I'll be blunt, as wonderful as that was, this one is way above that.
01:05:06: And listen to these words, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, the scripture says, is the Holy Spirit pointing people to the
01:05:12: Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is pointing people to Jesus. And on top of that, he makes this very bold and politically incorrect statement, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
01:05:27: And I can hear all the blue -haired, feminist, woke types sitting there going, are you saying that my
01:05:35: Buddhist neighbor and my Muslim friends, they're not going to heaven unless they believe in Jesus? No, I didn't say that.
01:05:42: God, the Holy Spirit said it through Peter, and he's right, he's the spirit of truth. So your Buddhist neighbor and your
01:05:47: Muslim friend need to repent and believe in Jesus. How dare you, you close -minded bigot!
01:05:53: Right? This is an offensive statement.
01:06:02: But Jesus said the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. These words are true.
01:06:11: There is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
01:06:19: Buddha will not save you. Allah cannot save you. Shiva and Vishnu are demonic delusions.
01:06:29: Athena, Zeus, Dionysus, especially Dionysus, and all the false gods of Egypt are just that, they're false gods.
01:06:38: They cannot and will not save you, and belief and trust in them will be in vain.
01:06:45: There is salvation only in Christ. Well, don't you think in the 21st century we can be a little bit more open -minded and just seek to coexist?
01:06:55: No. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, and Peter here was speaking by the power of the
01:07:01: Holy Spirit. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter, and you're going to note, what
01:07:08: Peter is preaching here, it hits with the people he is speaking to.
01:07:14: When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished.
01:07:21: A good way to think about it is the guys of Galilee were kind of like the ancient world's version of rednecks.
01:07:28: I might as well call Peter Bubba. At this point, that's kind of the point.
01:07:36: Where are they getting this information? Where is he able to preach like this, and to preach with such boldness?
01:07:42: It stood out as miraculous. Right? They had recognized that they had been with Jesus, but seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition, but when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying,
01:08:02: What shall we do with these men? For a notable sign has been performed through them.
01:08:08: It is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.
01:08:15: Now, let's talk about apostolic quality healings, shall we? Today's modern, new apostolic reformation claims over and over again, healings for people.
01:08:26: You know what they never produce? Is evidence. And I mean any kind of evidence.
01:08:32: You're just expected to take their word for it because they believe in the Holy Spirit. And a great example of this was last year.
01:08:41: Last year, there was a conference put on by James River Church in Joplin, Missouri, and one of the guest attendees and speakers was
01:08:48: Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California. And this conference was all about modern day signs and wonders and healings and miracles.
01:08:57: And during, after one of their major speaker sessions, they had a session where everybody in the audience could come together and pray for each other.
01:09:07: Pray for healing and things like this. And one particular lady was there who, a while back, had had her toes shot off by her ex -husband with a shotgun.
01:09:18: And so on one of her feet, three of her toes were missing. And so what did they do? They prayed for this woman and her toes.
01:09:26: And the claim is, at James River Church, that God caused a miracle to happen that night.
01:09:34: And in the course of 30 minutes after she was prayed for, her toes had completely grown back, had now had toenails on them, and she had received a complete healing by God the
01:09:44: Holy Spirit. James Lindell being one of the pastors there at James River Church, Bill Johnson, they all communicated these things.
01:09:51: Bill Johnson told the story at Bethel Church in Redding, California. However, you're going to note something here.
01:09:57: No evidence was provided to support the claim that this woman's toes had grown back.
01:10:03: I always like to point out, we have these things in our pockets nowadays.
01:10:09: This particular thing that I have, I keep in my pocket, is capable of 4K 60 video recording.
01:10:17: I can take photographs at 47 megapixels in RAW format.
01:10:24: And you're going to note, I have yet to see a human being running around the planet that is over the age of 18 who doesn't have their face in one of these things at least half the day.
01:10:35: And yet nobody thought to pull out their 4K video recording device and record or take a photograph of it.
01:10:42: So atheists, seeing this story and this claim that this woman's toes had grown back, they put up a website called showusthetoes .com
01:10:55: And this got some big media attention. And there were some major media outlets that covered the story basically saying, hey
01:11:03: James River Church, show us the toes! To which Pastor Lindell said, oh these people are so cynical and skeptical, no amount of evidence is good enough for them so we're not going to show them any.
01:11:19: Well, the show us the toes website sat dormant for about the past year maybe a little bit more.
01:11:28: Until this past week when a new post showed up. Guess who got a photograph of this woman's toes?
01:11:37: The show us the toes website. Had they grown back? Had God miraculously grown those toes back?
01:11:43: Do they now have toenails on them? Nope. There is no difference between the before and the after photo.
01:11:53: None whatsoever. So I have to ask the question, if we're going to put the emphasis on the proper syllable, why is it that the
01:12:01: Holy Spirit of the Pentecostal Church constantly is drawing attention to itself when
01:12:19: Christ said that the Helper, that's the Holy Spirit, would testify about Him?
01:12:25: Why is it that the Apostles never preached about the Holy Spirit the way the Pentecostals do?
01:12:31: But given every opportunity to preach, every time they would open their mouth, the only person that they were focused on preaching was
01:12:38: Jesus Christ. Makes you wonder. I can think of a different spirit.
01:12:44: One that was created by God. A spirit who's a fallen spirit. Who is all about trafficking in lies.
01:12:52: Jesus speaks of this spirit and says that when He lies, He speaks His native language. And this particular spirit also is obsessed with drawing attention to Himself.
01:13:04: And He couldn't heal a runny nose with a box of Kleenex and one of those
01:13:10: Yeti pots. He couldn't do it Himself. That being the case, I would note something. I would note this.
01:13:18: I believe that the spirit that is operating in the Pentecostal Churches is not the Holy Spirit.
01:13:24: I believe that it's a different spirit. A diabolical one at that. You'll note that the miracle that was performed by God through the
01:13:31: Apostle Peter here, even the opponents of Christianity couldn't deny that it had taken place.
01:13:37: Yet the miracles that take place in the Pentecostal Churches, I always scratch my head and say, did a miracle really happen there?
01:13:44: Was that person really healed? Is there really any evidence that can substantiate this? Answer, nope.
01:13:51: We're dealing with a false spirit. But we're telling the story here of these fellows.
01:13:57: So what shall we do? The great miracle has happened. We cannot deny it. But the next word in verse 17 is the word, but.
01:14:05: You'll note with the words, these words, what shall we do with these men? A notable sign has been performed through them.
01:14:11: It's evident and we cannot deny it. The next words should be, we need to repent.
01:14:18: We need to let these men go and we need to start sitting under their teaching so that we can learn the truth.
01:14:25: That should be what happens next. But again, listen to what Jesus said in prophesying what would take place.
01:14:33: They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering a service to God.
01:14:40: And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. These people are blinded by their sins, still under the influence of the venom of Satan.
01:14:52: So the next word after they say, we can't deny that a miracle took place, their next words are, but in order that this may spread no further.
01:15:00: Wait, what? This is a bad thing? How is it a bad thing? So that this may spread no further, we are going to warn them to speak no more to anyone in Jesus' name.
01:15:19: That's not going to work. Right? So they called them and they charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
01:15:29: But Peter and John answered, well, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and what we have heard.
01:15:40: And when they had further threatened them, they let them go finding no way to punish them because the people for all were praising
01:15:49: God for what had happened for the man on whom the sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old.
01:15:56: What an annoying text right there. I am greatly annoyed.
01:16:03: But we continue. Now, in the face of these threats, you cannot ever preach in the name of Jesus anymore.
01:16:14: This must come to a stop. The disciples know full well they are in mortal danger.
01:16:23: These are the same people who crucified Christ. So what happens next also is a fulfillment of what
01:16:30: Christ says in our gospel text. And we should pay attention because watch where the Holy Spirit shows up and what the
01:16:37: Holy Spirit does. So when they were released, they went to their friends. They reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
01:16:46: And when they heard it, they lifted up their voice together to God. And so they pray. And you're going to note here, they don't decree, they don't declare.
01:16:54: Today's modern NAR types would say something like this. We decree and declare against the spirit of Leviathan that has somehow taken over the synagogues and blah blah blah.
01:17:04: And we tear you down, Satan. COVID -19. This is how they would talk, right? But here, listen to this prayer.
01:17:12: It's a wonderful one. So they lifted up their voices together to God and they said,
01:17:18: Sovereign Lord, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them? Who through the mouth of our father
01:17:25: David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why did the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
01:17:33: The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.
01:17:39: For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both
01:17:44: Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
01:17:52: And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.
01:18:04: They ask God, please grant that we can continue to speak your word with all boldness.
01:18:14: While you, God, stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant
01:18:20: Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the
01:18:29: Holy Spirit and they continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
01:18:40: And now we can see it. We can put the proper emphasis on the correct syllable. We do not need to err.
01:18:47: The Holy Spirit is our helper. He helps us. He is the one who bears the fruit of the spirit within us.
01:18:54: He is the one who empowers us to speak the gospel with boldness. He is the one who gives us the strength to proclaim
01:19:03: Christ and him crucified for our sins. He is the one who is active when all, when his word is properly handled and Christ is exalted and glorified.
01:19:14: So, brothers and sisters, let us repent of not having a proper focus and putting the wrong emphasis on the work of the
01:19:24: Holy Spirit. May we see and embrace what Christ has done. He has properly and truly sent to us his spirit, the
01:19:32: Holy Spirit, who now indwells each and every one of us, who gives us strength, comforts us with the gospel, convicts us of our sin, and even prays for us in ways that we don't even know that we need to be praying for ourselves.
01:19:49: And let us thank God that he is not the spirit who causes us to fall over drunk, but instead the
01:19:55: Holy Spirit is the one who gives us a sober -minded understanding of our own sin and the great mercy that we have in Christ.
01:20:02: He is not the one who causes us to speak gibberish, but instead speak with boldness and confidence the sound words of sound doctrine and the good news that Christ has bled and died for our sins.
01:20:14: Let us thank Jesus for this great gift of this helper and let us not be afraid of the true
01:20:20: Holy Spirit, but let us ever be thankful for the great gift that Christ has given us in sending him, the one who proceeds from the
01:20:28: Father as well as the Son. In the name of Jesus, Amen. We rise to confess our faith together in the words of the
01:20:37: Apostles' Creed. I believe in God, the
01:20:52: Father almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only
01:20:58: Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
01:21:09: He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the
01:21:18: Father almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the
01:21:24: Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
01:21:35: Amen. Let us pray for the whole
01:21:51: Church of God and Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs. Lord of hosts, your Son Jesus Christ, our
01:21:57: King of glory, now stands with you, uplifted in triumph, far above the heavens.
01:22:03: Leave us not without consolation, but send us always the spirit of your truth according to his promises.
01:22:09: Lord, in your mercy. Father, your Son has prepared us for the scorn and opposition that we may expect from this world.
01:22:17: Armed with his word, make your Church bold and her witness for your glory and for the good of all.
01:22:24: Lord, in your mercy. Lord God, you have marked us with your name and purified us in holy baptism.
01:22:31: Keep us from all idolatry and grant us our share in the promised new heavens and earth. Lord, in your mercy.
01:22:39: God, the Father of all, build up our homes as strongholds for the tempted, tested, and the afflicted.
01:22:44: Let your word of salvation resound in them and lead us to open our doors to the oppressed. Lord, in your mercy.
01:22:52: Oh God, stop the mouths of those who breathe out violence. Inspire our voices to proclaim your truth and speak up for the afflicted.
01:23:00: That many may hear and seek your face. Lord, in your mercy. Oh Lord, you have shown your face to us in your
01:23:08: Son, Jesus Christ. Answer those who cry out in his name. Today we lift before you,
01:23:15: Jana, Luca, Sheila, David, Roger, Robin, Bonnie, Judy, Heather, Linda Jean, Jonathan, Jeff, Wendy, Renee, Luis, Deborah, Rachel, Mara, and Gloria.
01:23:30: We also pray for those who mourn the family of Debbie Clevin and the Botwell family.
01:23:36: We also pray for Charles, Gabrielle, Karen, and Tara. We ask that you be their stronghold and preserve them unto life eternal.
01:23:46: Lord, in your mercy. Merciful Father, you desire your church on earth to be one.
01:23:52: Grant unity in doctrine and witness and at your holy table. Lord, in your mercy. Heavenly Father, your
01:23:59: Son in his incarnation took on our human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. He submitted to his mother, honoring and obeying her, so fulfilling the commandment where we have not.
01:24:10: On this Mother's Day, graciously accept our thanksgiving for our mothers whom you have given to us.
01:24:16: Teach us to honor them aright, loving, obeying, and giving thanks for them as is fitting in your sight.
01:24:22: Strengthen all women with child and give them safe delivery. Comfort all women who long to have children but cannot that they may find their consolation in you and your unfailing love.
01:24:32: Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. We continue with the offertory.