This last Sunday we learned that Jesus is our King and we belong to Him. He is with us even now calling us to GET BACK TO IT and never give up no matter what may come! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 5:12-42
TITLE: Go and Stand Firm
PREACHER: Guest Pastor, Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: The Church is commissioned in the Gospel of Jesus that will advance in power no matter what!

POINTS: 
1.  The Church’s Gospel Mission Advances In Power   
2. The Church’s Gospel Mission Advances In Opposition
3. The Church’s Gospel Mission Advances In Suffering

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
James 5:7-11 - Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

QUOTES:
Kent Hughes - “All of these died knowing that God can deliver his people anytime he wants. Scripture says that when waves of persecution or trial come, God can deliver us if he so wills. No matter how dark or oppressive the wave, he can rescue us. Believe it!”

Charles Spurgeon’s sermon “A Happy Christian” - “The worldling blesses God while he gives him plenty, but the Christian blesses him when he smites him: he believes him to be too wise to err and too good to be unkind; he trusts him where he cannot trace him, looks up to him in the darkest hour, and believes that all is well.”

John Newton: “Are not you amazed sometimes that you should have so much as a hope, that, poor and needy as you are, the Lord thinketh of you? But let not all you feel discourage you. For if our Physician is almighty, our disease cannot be desperate and if He casts none out that come to Him, why should you fear?”

APPLICATION:

1. Obey GOD rather than man! The rage, the opposition, the suffering is just waiting for us. But, we are called to obey God rather than man! There are situations in which we will be called to be Shadrach Meshach and Abednego - so moved by obedience to God that they MUST do so no matter if He delivers them or not!

2. Get Back To It! - Obedience that is met with God’s power
   Church, we are called to get back to it! Get back to the proclamation, back to the witness, back to “this life!” 

3. Never Give Up In It! - Perseverance that sustains 

   “Stand “ Firm - Hold Your Ground - Vs. 20
   “Every day” - do not stop preaching that the Christ is Jesus!!!! Vs. 42
   “Counted worthy to suffer” - Get back to it - NO MATTER what may come - opposition, suffering is worth it because Jesus is worth it.

Sunday, we looked at the twin realities of the church: The Church is shaped by grace and marked by holiness. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 4:32-5:11
TITLE: The Day God Killed People At Church
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: The church is a community shaped by grace and marked by holiness—And God will have it no other way.
OPENING ILLUSTRATION: Is He safe? Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King; I tell you—The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis)

POINTS: 
1.   The Church is Shaped by Grace    
2.   The Church is Marked by Holiness

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:

Joshua 7:1 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. 

Titus 2:9-10 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. 

1 Peter 5:6-9 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Hebrews 3:12-13 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

APPLICATION:

1. Stay humble by celebrating grace as often as possible—in your life and others. It’s all too easy to forget that it’s all by grace. This is the difference between holy humility and sinful pride.

2. Never allow others to think more highly of you than they ought. Correct the record and deflect the glory to God.

3. Identify areas of sin you tend to commit while thinking to yourself—I know God will  forgive me. At that moment, you aren’t living in the fear of God; you are living as if you don’t fear what God thinks about your sin.

4. Read The Joy of Fearing God by Jerry Bridges.

James begins his brief letter to the scattered and battered Jewish Christians with a radical and seemingly irrational command—Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds. Below are a few words from the sermon on 2/21/21 that show the brilliant rationale to such a radical command.

Scripture

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance - Romans 5:3

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. - Colossians 3:1-4

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Quotes

“Frankly, many of us would prefer that this passage was not in the Bible! But it may also be one of the most profound and crucial for truly mature Christian living.” - Craig Blomberg

“James is commending the conscious embrace of a Christian understanding of life that brings joy into the trials.” - Kent Hughes

A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love

By Vincent, Milton

Buy on Amazon

“More than anything else I could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ. Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God’s good work in me.” - Milton Vincent, The Gospel Primer