Building His Kingdom

20221101 Act 13:26-31 Humility Cures Blinding Pride

20221101 Act 13:26-31 Humility Cures Blinding Pride Blinding pride What is the solution to blinding pride? Jas 4:10 (ESV) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. - Read Act 13:26-31 - Act 13:26 (ESV) “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. Gen 12:3 (ESV) 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - Act 13:27 (ESV) For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord 1Co 1:18-31 (ESV) 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - Act 13:28 (ESV) And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord Self-centered perspective skews or twists our perception. God created the world to make sense. Sin/self clouds our perception of the logic of God‘s world. Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord Original sin: PRIDE Isa 14:14 (ESV) 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 1. Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others. Pride blinds us to the truth! Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord - Act 13:29 (ESV) And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. Act 13:30 (ESV) But God raised him from the dead, regardless of man’s twisted perspective, reality is, God is accomplishing HIS purposes! Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord - Act 13:31 (ESV) and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. = Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord 1Co 1:18-25 (ESV) 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord - 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord - 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord - 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord Pride blinds is to the truth. Don’t allow pride to control your perspective. Humble yourself before the Lord and HE will lift you up! Blinding pride Humble yourselves before the Lord

20221031 Act 13:21-25 Time is God’s tool

20221031 Act 13:21-25 Time is God’s tool One of the gifts of the spirit is patience God wants us to trust him and patiently wait HIS time. - Read Act 13:21-25 - Act 13:21 (ESV) Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. Act 13:22 (ESV) And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Act 13:23 (ESV) Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 2Pe 3:8-9 (ESV) 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Time is God’s tool - Act 13:24 (ESV) Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. Act 13:25 (ESV) And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ Act 13:26 (ESV) “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. = Isa 40:29-31 (ESV) 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Time is God’s tool In your life there may be delays and challenges that seem to go on for a long period of time. Gal 6:7-10 (ESV) 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Time is God’s tool Manage your expectations – God uses time to attain His ends, His purposes. Time is God’s tool Don’t be impatient. Heb 5:11-14 (ESV) 11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Time is God’s tool God uses times to transform us. Rom 12:1-2 (ESV) 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Time is God’s tool

20221027 Act 13:16-20 Testify to Goodness of God

20221027 Act 13:16-20 Testify to Goodness of God We can impact eternity when we testify to the goodness of God - Read Act 13:16-20 - Act 13:16 (ESV) So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. Paul was talking to people who recognized God Testify to Goodness of God Act 13:17 (ESV) The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. Paul is speaking of God’s gracious and powerful acting for the Israelites Testify to Goodness of God Act 13:18 (ESV) And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. Paul testifies to God’s patience Testify to Goodness of God Act 13:19 (ESV) And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. Paul testifies to the Sovereignty of God Testify to Goodness of God Act 13:20 (ESV) All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Paul testifies to the grace and providence of God Testify to Goodness of God = Paul summarizes for his listeners how God selected the Israelites, and increased them in Egypt then led them out. He phrases it that God “put up with them” ( v 18) God was doing the “doing“… “… He gave them… “, He destroyed. God was proactively working to position the Israelites where he wanted them. God is laying the ground from work for the Israelites and Paul is laying the groundwork for his hearers to understand how astonishing the gospel is. Testify to Goodness of God The gospel is not a fix to a problem that God did not see coming. God set this whole process in motion for the express purpose of glorifying His name. Testify to Goodness of God History is part of God’s story. God set us within the bounds of time and we should use that for His glory by looking backward and seeing and reviewing what He has done and share it with others. Our testimony is the most powerful thing we can bring when sharing the gospel. How has God impacted your life’s? Rev 12:10-11 (ESV) 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. What are they testifying of? 2Co 12:9 (ESV) 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Jas 4:10 (ESV) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Testify to the greatness and the mercy and the grace of God! Glorify and honor Him! Exo 33:18 (ESV) 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” Exo 34:6 (ESV) 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, Can you share how God has worked in your life to show you His character? Mercy Grace Patience Love Faithfulness

20230304 Baptism

20230304 Baptism Act 2:38 (ESV) 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. be baptized. This Greek word lit. means "be dipped or immersed" in water. G907   (Strong) βαπτίζω baptizō bap-tid'-zo From a derivative of G911; to make whelmed (that is, fully wet); used only (in the New Testament) of ceremonial ablution, especially (technically) of the ordinance of Christian baptism: - baptist, baptize, wash. Thayer Definition: 1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk) 2) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe 3) to overwhelm Part of Speech: verb Peter was obeying Christ's command from Mat 28:19 Mat 28:19-20 (ESV) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Peter was urging the people who repented and turned to the Lord Christ for salvation to identify, through the waters of baptism, with His death, burial, and resurrection. Rom 6:3-4 (ESV) 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. for the remission of sins. This might better be translated "because of the remission of sins." Baptism does not produce forgiveness and cleansing from sin. The reality of forgiveness precedes the rite of baptism (Act 2:41). Genuine repentance brings from God the forgiveness (remission) of sins (Eph 1:7) and, because of that, the new believer is to be baptized. Baptism, however, is to be the ever-present act of obedience, so that it became synonymous with salvation. Thus, to say one was baptized for forgiveness was the same as saying one was saved. 1Pe 3:18-22 (ESV) 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the answer of a good conscience toward God. The word for answer has the idea of a pledge, agreeing to certain conditions of a covenant (the new covenant) with God. What saves a person plagued by sin and a guilty conscience is not some external rite, but the agreement with God to get in the ark of safety, the Lord Jesus, by faith in His death and resurrection (cf. Rom 10:9-10; Heb 9:14; Heb 10:22).

20221026 Act 13:13-15 Encouragement

Encouragement Heb 10:24-25 (ESV) 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Act 13:13-15 (ESV) 13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” = Heb 10:24-25 (ESV) 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.