Death has Limits

“But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him." Acts 2:24

Peter continues to preach. God the Father raised His only Son from the dead. The death of Jesus was agonizing, but the glory of His resurrection completely overcame that.

The Meaning of the Advent Wreath

The Advent wreath is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent. It is a circular candle holder that typically holds five candles. During the season of Advent one candle on the wreath is lit each Sunday until all of the candles, including the fifth candle, are lit on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. Each candle represents an aspect of the spiritual preparation for the celebration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Most Advent wreaths use three colors of candles – purple, pink, and white.

Give Thanks

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His Name." Psalm 100:4

Something simple and sweet on Thanksgiving Day. May it remind you of the most important thing. Like these lyrics to the beautiful song say.....

“This Man”

"This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to a cross." Acts 2:23

Peter is preaching. He is full of the Holy Spirit and laying down the truth very succinctly and clearly. He isn't railing and he isn't sugar-coating, that is for sure.

Accreditation

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know." Acts 2:22

This verse brings up some things for me that I would like to share with you. They are part of my core experience. Part of what has shaped me through almost 50 years of ministry.

Being Thankful

“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:11

Thanksgiving is next week and once again it snuck up on me. This year I do not need to try very hard to find and acknowledge all those things that I should be thankful for.

All of me

"As for God, his way is perfect; The Lord’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in him." Psalm 18:30

In the last few months, I’ve undergone a whirlwind of transformation. Back in August, I moved out of my house. Out of my marriage. Out of the only life I’ve known for the last 10 years. Separated from my husband by mutual lies and deception, brokenness and despair. I embarked on a journey marked with anguishing heartbreak, hard hearted rebellion, humble submission, and, ultimately, beautiful restoration. My first step through this unknown and unfamiliar door, I began searching for a self who I didn’t even know was there. In the world of the human psyche, we all have what is known as a “lost self,” a “false self,” and a “disowned self”, each one formed during the earliest stages of our existence. Dr. Harville Hendrix defines the lost self as “those parts of your being that you had to repress because of the demands of society”, the false self as “the façade that you erected in order to fill the void created by this repression and by a lack of adequate nurturing,” and the disowned self as “the negative parts of your false self that met with disapproval and were therefore denied.” What I have since discovered in unearthing each aspect that compromises my whole my whole self is the darkness of my own heart, my overwhelming propensity for sin, and the amazing grace of a loving Creator who knows about it all. He truly loves me. All of me.

Saved

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." s 2:21

Love this verse. Love that it is an Old Testament verse. Love that Luke quotes it here in Acts.

Signs and Wonders

"I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord" Acts 2:19-20

Count on this. The Lord will return. He said so and Joel and most every other Bible author said so too.

"Prophesying"

"Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women I will pour out My Spirit in those days and they will prophesy." Acts 2:17b-18

Sure sounds like everybody is going to have the Holy Spirit poured out on them and prophesy. Peter continues to quote the prophet Joel and he is clear that the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is on every believer.

The Prophet Joel, Part One

"No, this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel: In the last days God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people." Acts 2:16-17a

Peter quotes Joel's prophecy of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the inauguration of the last days. Whenever we hear the term "last days" we seem to either start looking for our tinfoil hats or start crying “when, when, when?" So much so that we can totally miss the power of the passage, which is the fact that God has poured out His Spirit on all people. Sure, this is huge in general, but how about personally?

"Veterans Day"

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13

"With Your help, I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall" Psalm 18:29

Today is Veteran’s Day, a day set aside by our nation to recognize and honor our military veterans. Throughout the history of our great country, there have always been many brave men and women who have been willing to sacrifice much and to place themselves in harm’s way in defense of the freedoms we enjoy, and which we too often take for granted. I thank each and every one of them for their service, and I thank God for them.

"Drunk Jokes"

"These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only 9 in the morning!" Acts 2:15

When you are going to preach a lengthy sermon it is not bad form to open with a little bit of humor. Drunk jokes work as a common ground opener. Everybody is familiar with how ridiculous and embarrassing drunk people are.

“Listen Carefully”

"Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say." Acts 2:14

We really do need to listen more carefully. The hardest part of listening is twofold. One, to shut up for a minute, the second to not just load what you want to say while someone else is speaking. Not easy at all. Think about what is being said here.

"Amazing and Perplexing"

"Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each one of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-- we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." Acts 2:5-13

Long passage, but it is the context of the storyline. So everybody hears the gospel in their own language. Pretty amazing huh? Miraculous even. So once we get over the tongues part of the miracle and the obvious purpose for it we must decide whether our reaction is one of being amazed or perplexed. Amazed is the right answer.

The Holy Spirit

"Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." Acts 2:2-4

Oh my. What in the world is going on here? A lot of amazing and spectacular things happen in Scripture, and this is definitely one of them. But, what does it mean?

“TOGETHER”

"When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place." Acts 2:1

It’s always a good idea to be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, with the right people. For example... the right time is Sunday, the right place is Grace Harbor (or somewhere), the right thing is worshiping and the right people are other Christians. When you miss church, you miss not only what can happen to you, but you miss what happens to others and what happens to us together too.

“Church Business”

"So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas, (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, "Lord you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots and the lot fell to Matthias, so he was added to the 11 apostles." Acts 1:23-26

The early church conducted the business of replacing Judas by casting lots. Note that they proposed two men who were qualified and then basically drew straws. If they had voted it seems to me that a guy with three names was at a disadvantage. Just saying.

Matthias got the short or long straw or the low or high number on the dice, depending on how you look at it. I think a random system that picks between two worthy possibilities certainly keeps influence and popularity out of the formula.

Can you imagine? ..... No debates, no endorsements, no fundraising, no politics, no nasty commercials. No agendas, no games, no finagling and no monkey business. Sounds good to me. I am guessing that Joseph, Barsabbas, Justus, whatever his name was, didn't have an attitude about it.

Oh wait, did I mention that they prayed for God's will and guidance? How often we forget to seek Him in everything, every time too.

Trying to be about His business,
Pastor Fred

"Apostleship"

"Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection." Acts 1:21-22

The eleven remaining Apostles needed to replace Judas. It was necessary. An Apostle by definition is one who was with Jesus from Baptism to Ascension. Paul is the only exception to this rule. The 12 Apostles all met those criteria and so should the replacement for Judas. They all were eyewitnesses of the teaching and miracles.

"Judas"

"In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, "Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus, he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.“ (With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field where he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language, Akeldama, that is, field of blood) “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms," ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it, ’and, ’May another take his place of leadership.’" Acts 1:15-20

Judas, like Jezebel and Barabbas, are to this day unpopular children's names. The very mention of Judas is met with disdain and negative reaction.

“A Hundred and Twenty”

"In those days Peter stood up among the believers a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)" Acts 1:15

Several things come to mind about this verse as I think about what was going on in those days. Those days must have been remarkable. Imagine gathering and waiting in that upper room. Some expecting with bold faith for something to happen soon, others wondering whether anything would ever happen, a few maybe thinking 'what in the world am I doing here'.