Sermons

We ask God for what we need in life, but even when our prayers are answered, the joy does not last long, and new problems come. God does not ignore our real needs, but he sees the root of a problem deeper than what we want right now, and he deals with it.

At the time of prayer, Peter and John meet a lame man who is begging, and instead of silver and gold, they declare that in the name of Jesus Christ he is to get up and walk. This miracle was not meant to show off the apostles’ power; it was meant to reveal the saving authority of the name of Jesus and to turn people’s eyes to him.

Our prayers must not become a list of requests for getting what we want; they must be a time of asking God to shape us into the kind of people he is making us to be. The name of Jesus is more than a power that meets our needs; it is the saving power that turns us from sin and brings us back to God.

Repentance, which means recognizing sin and turning back to God completely, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ are not a price paid to gain salvation. They are the fitting response to the grace God gives. Through them, people receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit and go on to live a new life.

Those who receive the gospel are not simply changed as individuals. They are built into a community that learns the apostles’ teaching, shares fellowship with one another, breaks bread, and prays. Their faith does not stay as knowledge alone. It shows itself in practical love and service as they share their possessions and their time.

To such a community the Lord adds day by day those he is saving. We do not strive to build the church by our own strength. Relying on the grace the Lord gives, we grow as a community that is the body of Christ, learning the word, loving one another, and serving our neighbors.

When the 120 gathered together in one place on the day of Pentecost and prayed, a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind came, and tongues like fire, distributed among them, rested on them. This was not a miracle that suddenly fell from the sky. It was the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit whom God had promised long before through the prophets.

The coming of the Spirit is the beginning of the new covenant, in which the law engraved on tablets of stone is written on human hearts. God’s presence does not stay in one particular place, the temple, but dwells within the body of each believer, and this is remarkable grace. Because of this, people who speak different languages hear the same gospel, and the division brought about at the tower of Babel is healed as they become one.

The world dismisses this strange event as drunkenness, but Peter proclaimed that it was evidence that Jesus Christ had become Lord and Christ, just as the prophet foretold. The Holy Spirit is not one who gives special powers; he dwells within us and makes us bear witness to Jesus. We must not take the presence of the Spirit for granted, but must obey his leading and live lives that reveal Jesus Christ.

After his resurrection, Jesus does not answer the disciples’ question about restoring the physical kingdom of Israel. Instead, he promises that the Holy Spirit will come upon them, that they will receive power, and that they will be witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

The church’s task is not accomplished by human ability or programs. It is the work of being witnesses of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit alone, and only those prepared according to God’s will can carry it out.

To fill the empty place, the disciples chose candidates, prayed, and then left the decision to God by casting lots. The church is a place that seeks God’s will rather than its own judgment when deciding important matters, and that waits for the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Philippi, Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown into prison for setting free a slave girl possessed by a demon. At midnight, as they pray and sing hymns, a great earthquake throws open the prison doors, and every prisoner’s fetters come loose. They could have escaped, yet Paul stays where he is and holds back the jailer, who was about to take his own life.

What people do when the chance of release comes shows what their faith really is. The earthquake struck prisoners and jailer alike, but only those who had been born again could make an honest and holy choice even in that moment. Only after seeing this did the jailer ask what he must do to be saved.

Told that if he believed in the Lord Jesus, he and his household would be saved, the jailer and his whole family were baptized that same night. Paul preached the gospel, but it is God who brings a person to faith. So the one who proclaims it is not answerable for the outcome; it is enough to be faithful to the calling entrusted to them. Once out of prison, Paul and Silas went back to Lydia’s house, that is, to the church, where they saw the brothers and encouraged them.

Luke set down for Theophilus a careful account of how the gospel passed through Jerusalem and went on to reach Rome. Though Theophilus had never seen Jesus with his own eyes, the word passed on to him was enough: he believed as though he could see the invisible God, and he received the hope of heaven.

As Israel stood on the edge of Canaan, Moses earnestly pleaded with them to keep the statutes and ordinances, for that was the way to life. God showed them no form, because he knew the people would turn any form into an idol. Yet Christians too measure God by the standards of the world, fashioning images of their own and serving them.

Some nine hundred years before Jesus came, David heard in advance, by the Holy Spirit, of Christ’s death and resurrection, and he held fast to that hope and lived it out even in the midst of suffering. Jesus came as the prophecy foretold and fulfilled that promise. We have seen this and know it, so we must proclaim the gospel more boldly than David did, and live with thankfulness and perseverance.