The Message of the Angel: What it Means  Luke 1:5-25

 I   God keeps His Promises; God fulfills His Prophecies  v.5

   A  The Agony of the People v.5

   B  The Agony of the Priest v.7

   C  The Identity of the Angel v. 11,19

   D  The Two Prophecies v. 17, Daniel 9:24-26

II The Power of Unbelief  v. 18

  A Zecharias is one of the best People in the World  v. 6

  B He has the Record of Holy Scripture

  C He has the testimony of a Visible Angel v. 13

III The Wisdom of God's Discipline  v. 20

Getting Ready for the First Christmas

Luke 1:5-17 

I.  Waiting on God     1:5-7

A.  Has God Forgotten the Nation?     v. 5

B.  Has God Forgotten the Family?     vv. 6-7

II.  The Sudden Intervention of God    vv. 11-12

A.  In the Context of Apparent Futility

B.  In the Context of Repeated Routine

III.  God’s Message for the Faithful     vv. 13-14

A.  About Fear     v. 13

B.  About Answered Prayer     v. 13

C.  About Future Prospects     v. 13-14

IV.  God and the Measure of Greatness    vv. 15-17

Revelation 4: The throne room of God

The center of the universe

 1. Throne: “One sitting on the throne” (v. 2) is Jesus.  And Jesus is…

             A. G______________; no longer the baby in the stable

            B. S_______________; He is not anxious; He is in control

            C. S_______________; He is Lord over All!

            D. Two questions:

                        1) When deciding on difficult issues of theology, where do you start?

JUDGMENT AND THE CHURCH

 Acts 5:1-11

I.  The Truth about the Church

A.  The Rigorous Honesty of Holy Scripture

B.  The Connection to the Old Testament

1.  The Connection to Onan               Genesis 38

2.  The Connection to Achan              Joshua 7

C.  The Contrast with Barnabas         Acts 4:36-37

II.  The Truth about their Sin

A.  The Sin against Honesty               Acts 5:2

"The Goodnes of God and the Furnace of Doubt"

Psalm 73

Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.

Where is the justice?

Where is the goodness of God?

Asaph, King David's chief worship leader, wrestled with these questions.  Psalm 73 records his struggle and the answers he found.

UNITY AND ITS FRUIT

 Acts 4:32-37

 I.  The Perils of Protestantism            4:32

 II.  The Internal Evidence of Unity        4:32

 A.  Unanimity in the Congregation

 B.  Heart Unity

 C.  Soul Unity

 D.  Authentic Koinonia

 III.  The External Expression of Unity       4:33

 A.  Great Power

 B.  Faithful Witness

 C.  Abundant Grace

 IV.  The Economics of Unity               4:34-35

 A.  Abundance: Where Does It Come From?

"Golden Age of the Church"

Acts 4:31

I.  The Specifics of the Request         Acts 4:29-30

A.  The Reality of the Danger

B.  The Boldness of the Proclamation

C.  The Petition for Attending Miracles

II. The Specifics of the Answer           Acts 4:31

A.  The Shaking of the Place

B.  The Filling of the Holy Spirit

1.  The Surprising Analogy of Ephesians 5:18

2.  The Surprising Accusation of Acts 2:13

3.  The Urgency of the Spirit’s Ministry

I.  Prayer and Sovereignty         v. 28

A.  Prayer and Conformity      (With Reference to Purpose)

B.  Prayer and Instrumentality (With Reference to Process)

II.  Prayer and Iniquity                 v. 29

A.  God’s Surprising Desire

B.  The Double-Edged Petition

C.  The Pre-Condition for Boldness

III.  Prayer and Specificity           v. 30

IV.  The Answer from Heaven   v. 31

A.  The Necessity of Unity

B.  The Necessity of the Holy Spirit

C.  The Necessity of Confirmation

Acts 4:23-31

"The Gospel Unleashed"

Iain Murray

"Follow Me"

John 21:17-25

"The Irresistible Gospel, Part III"

Acts 4:13-22

I.  Confidence and Its Source 

“…they observed the confidence of Peter and John…

and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”   Acts 4:13

A.  The Paradox of Christian Confidence

B.  The Present Availability of Daily Fellowship with the Lord Jesus

“I have just spent five hours with the Most High God.”

                                                                John Knox (1514-1572)

II.  The Gospel and the Intellect

"The Irresistible Gospel, Part II"

Act 4:13-22

I.  The Gospel is Truth                    vv. 13-14 

A.  The Truth about Identity 

B.  The Truth about Transformation

II.  Truth does not always benefit the Wicked    vv. 13-14

A.  Truth is a liability for the unrepentant.

B.  The unrepentant deploy the Truth in the service of lies.

III.  Where the Gospel is Detected, the Gospel is Attacked.    vv. 15-18

A.  Resistance to the Gospel is a Conspiracy.       v. 15

B.  The congregation of Satan at worship

The Irresistible Gospel 

Part 1

Acts 4.13-14 

I. The Lesser and Greater Lights Contrasted      Acts 4:13

       A.  The Light which Comes from Research – Academics

                    agrammatoi kai idiotai

                    unlettered  and  lay people

                    uneducated and untrained

 B.  The Light which Comes from a Relationship – Apprenticeship

 They…began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.   v. 13

THE SCANDAL OF PARTICULARITY

Part 2

Acts 4.12

I.  The Doctrine Preached by Peter has provoked the ‘The Scandal of Particularity’

A.  ‘Scandal’ in this case means the offense caused to unbelievers by the doctrine

B.  ‘Particularity’ refers to biblical claims that Jesus ALONE can save

II.  The Doctrine Opposed by Human Logic

A.  The Impulse to Overrule God

      (The Prejudice which Overestimates Human Capacity)

B.  The Impulse toward Self-Salvation Strategies

     (The Prejudice which Underestimates Human Depravity)

No Other Name                 Acts 4:1-12

I    The Gospel Disturbance   Acts 4:1-4

     A The Gospel Attacked   v.1

     B The Gospel Opposed v.2

     C The Gospel Arrested   v.3

     D The Gospel Advanced v.4

II   The Hardening of the Opposition Acts 4:1-7

     A The Opposition Enumerated

        1 The Priests          v.1

        2 The Captain of the Temple Guard v.1

        3 The Sadducees    v.1

        4 The Rulers          v.5

        5 The Elders           v.5

The Prophets and the Times    Acts 3:18-26

I The Three Ages   Acts 3:18-21

    A The Age of Prophecy    Acts 3:18a

    B The Age of Fulfillment  Acts 3:18b

    C The Age of Responsibility  Acts 3:19-20

II  The Three Sages   Acts 3:22-25

    A The Prophet Who Gave the Law  Acts 3:22

    B The Prophet Who Gave the Kingdom  Acts 3:24

    C The Prophet Who gave the Covenant  Acts 3:25

III The Three Stages  Acts 3:25-26

    A  God’s Sovereignty in the Covenant   Acts 3:25

Out of the Fish, Into the World

The Mystery of it All

The Passion of Paul the Evangelist

His Obligation

His Readiness

His Confidence

Jesus and the Father

"I always do the things I see the Father doing"

John 10:37, 14:10-13

We have a tendency to build broken cisterns that don't hold water instead of coming to Him, the source of living water.

The sheep and goat judgement is not based on works but "I never knew you". We want to be known, to be found in Him.

"My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts."

Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all speak of the New Covenant.  Here God speaks through Isaiah to offer water to everyone who thirsts. Thirsting is common to all.  The difference is where we take that thirst.

How do we respond to popular culture?

Sermon in Miniature 3:15

The power of the Name 3:16

What is the gospel?   It is a declaration:

• of who we are
• of who God is
• of the gulf that separates us
• of how to bridge that gap

The Miracle and the Sermon

                          Acts 3:12-18

"The Beautiful Miracle, Part II:  What The Miracle Means"