Red Stone Church
And The Word Was Multiplied
Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says this and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth chapter 4 29 through 31 says this and Now Lord look upon their threats and grant to your servants To continue to speak your words with all boldness While you stretch out your hands to heal Signs and wonders are performed through the name of our holy servant Jesus and when they prayed they play the place on which they were gathered together Was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with all boldness And the very last last last passage of Acts chapter 28 28 and following says this Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the generous to the Gentiles They will listen He lived there. This is Paul lived there two years whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord at Jesus Christ with all boldness and Without hindrance and we say back to him that all flesh is like glass and all of its glory like the flowers in the field The grass will wither and the flowers will fall but the word of the Lord will stand forever amen and amen And so that's it y'all beginning middle and end the book of Acts and There at the heartbeat of all of it is this word boldness and so how are we going to sum up? Spending the last six months in a book, right? It's just that one simple word boldness Are we bold and if we are timid how can we be bold? And so that's what we're going to try to do in 30 minutes or so is try to get us to a place where we can look at that one Word and say okay, Lord, I will commit to my life to this thing called proclamation That I believe in my heart of hearts that Jesus Christ will reign over all things and the superior to all things So whether we can do that in 30 minutes, we're not sure but we'll try And so there's a thing when I was growing up that the kids these days know nothing about and that was called TV sitcoms so if you are over the age of let's say 18 maybe you remember this thing called TV where you actually there were commercials and things already all those things Well in the olden days right way way way back, you know in the 90s There were these things called sitcoms and the sitcoms had seasons again Just if you're tracking with me, you just nod they have these things called seasons They're broken up in the fall semester and the spring semester And what would happen at the end of the spring semester sometime late spring early summer the last episode of the season would happen and There was a cliffhanger something would happen right would Ross and you get together or something like that? Or did someone kill someone or what happened in the car wreck or whatever it happened? But there was some kind of like and you would have to remember kids You don't know this world But you had to wait like three whole months to figure out what the resolution of that thing was going to be right So the book of Acts is a little bit like that is that Jesus ascends into heaven and everyone got by goes What's gonna happen next and then the book of acts ends and the church for the two thousand years kind of leans in goes Wonder what's gonna happen? Redstone church has been here for ten years and we all go Wonder what's going to happen next? And so what we're gonna try to do is understand that the book of acts is a historical Document and we're gonna learn from that historical document But then we're going to then transpose that over the last two thousand years And to say those things that we see in acts are the very same things that we've seen for the last two thousand years What are the ingredients of the local church that are these things and so that we as a local church here in the year? 2024 trying to reach a community and try to be obedient to things we can then say do we have these things that are a part of our lives and Our bodies there's only three of them. So I'm gonna try to make it simple so that we can all track But let me remind you that the book of Luke when Luke writes the gospel of Luke He says I want to tell you what Jesus came to do and to teach and Then what he wrote his second volume acts. He says I'm going to tell you what Jesus is going to continue to do to teach So that the local church for two thousand years can continue to look back on some things to say That's what we want to be about Six months ago, I started the series with a joke and I said all right everybody I want you to turn in your Bibles to Acts 29 and then I heard a bunch of Little light pages shuffling one husband gently puts his hand on his wife and goes your pink set up That's because there is no acts 29 in the book of Acts However, some of you know that we have as a church We have joined a network of church planting churches and the name of that network is Acts 29 because we believe this We believe that the thing that Jesus starts. He will continue and we have the awesome Both responsibility, but a privilege to be a part of the thing that Jesus says he wants to do and we are obedient to these things until he returns and So the mission was modeled for us right in the book of Acts and we want to understand this model and then for Two thousand years it was then it was maintained for two thousand years So that you and I could then look back at all of that evidence and say what is the local church? Well, we get these three things so I'm gonna break it into three things if you're taking notes here you go We are you all right to be on mission together. It needs to be biblical. I know I know it's not gonna change your life But it's true it needs to be biblical it has to be global and it has to be spirit filled. Okay biblical Global and spirit filled you ready? Okay, the mission has been modeled in the book of Acts and then also maintained for two thousand years So that you and I can then kind of take our cues and this is what a local church will be So that we can be also on mission Biblically all right our mission the mission of Jesus is rooted and founded and the authority of the Bible I mean, there's really not much more than we can say there Because the beginning of the book of Acts starts with a prophecy from the book of Joel the book of Acts ends with an understanding from Isaiah and All throughout whether you're looking at the Ethiopian eunuch reading from Isaiah or Listening to Stephen giving his amazing Sermon and just riddled with one passage after another over and over and over you Can't see the understanding of the mission and without understanding that it is rooted deeply in the Bible And so the same should be our story the same should be the same in our mission that we need to be rooted Biblically And so maybe we want to you know take the world for Christ I think we should first pause and say what does the acts Encounter and the understanding of this early church being truly rooted in the scriptures What it's what does it say about your spiritual journey are you too as well as? Passion about the scriptures as this early church And so we know that Jesus was all about discipleship because that was his great Commission to us to go and make disciples And so the early church told us that discipleship truly was founded in biblical literacy And so over and over and over we see these disciples as they grow and as they multiply They put out the word for people to hold on to they keep it deep into their hearts And so the only way that to truly make disciples of others is to understanding that we are all under an authority that we learn from and we teach from and we obey from because there is a king and There is a kingdom and we need to know both the person of Jesus But also also this ethos that he has created So acts chapter 242 early on in the book. What do you hear they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching? They just felt underneath this idea that they needed to be biblically literate Then again in 14 21 and then the gospel went into the city and won a large number of disciples discipleship and biblical literacy those two things go together and So we love the idea of discipleship so much so that our mission statement is disciples who make disciples of Jesus It's that simple The discipleship is a little bit like a garden where you just always have to tend it and water it and Prep for it and gather for it. I was talking to a guy just this week and he says my garden is a mess The idea of a messy garden is like it just wasn't tended well He hasn't spent the time or the energy in it as he should and so discipleship rooted in the scriptures Also creates this idea of time We have to spend time being rooted in the scriptures and then being able to give those scriptures the scriptures away You and I all rejoiced this last semester when we saw Matt Adair who was right up here give his testimony and was baptized And we all I mean we just shouted and it was wonderful and good Well, the shouting stopped for me because a couple of weeks later someone told me that Matt was tasked to read 51 Verses of the book of Acts and I was like y'all that ain't a good idea like I don't know why the stop But that's I mean 50 verses is a lot of verses for a kid You know to be able to read it and so Joe who's been discipling him. He was like listen man. He's got it He's got I don't know. I don't know 50 verses. I can't barely get out for without stammering and stuttering I don't know about 51 and he's like he'll be fine. He'll be fine So the day off he walks in I was like alright, Matt you ready and he's like yeah, yeah, I think I'm ready And he says I practically have it all memorized And so he just got up here and he just cranked it out discipleship the Bible time Truly being just truly rooted in what the word has to say is Absolutely crucial So it's not just the Bible right the other thing that we see over and over and over when it comes to the word is that it is proclaimed this idea of public Proclamation now. I can't describe what happens in a moment just like this a bunch of people sitting there Right listening to a guy up here. You know blabber for 30 minutes But what the scriptures say is something super natural happens Some even say that there is a grace that happens in a moment like this because public proclamation both the giving and the receiving are the key ingredients to what a service of the scripture is like and So over and over throughout the book of Acts you see these apostles stand up and proclaim the word and Oftentimes when they proclaim the word it actually gets them in trouble There are very few people like clapping and cheering and like whoo that was awesome They're more busy throwing stones and ripping clothes and and driving them out of town But here we are at the end of our our book Chapter 28 our worn torn apostle who literally only has two more years on planet earth and what do we hear him doing? day in and day out proclaiming this word to the people who ever would hear and This isn't the first time that we've heard public proclamation. Is it chapter 2 starts with the sermon and it was long and then Acts 5 42 and day after day in the temple courts and from house to house. They never stopped Teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah And then again in 17 2 through 3 as it was custom Paul went from synagogue and reason with them from the scriptures Explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead So this idea that it needs to be devotion and devotional it needs to be down into your heart But then also we need other people to tell it to us for us to write notes and underline verses to meditate on because something happens devotionally when you're in your room like Praying and reading that's very different that happens here Because we're all hearing the same word at once And when things start to coalesce Then something movement happens and it's not individual movement, but it's a corporate movement and so here he is preaching and teaching and being rooted in the scriptures over and over and over In our apostles they loved their scriptures when in the public proclamation and just a quick overview in their public proclamation They quoted the book of Joel the book of Psalms Genesis Exodus Deuteronomy Amos first Samuel and Habakkuk all of these passages come into their love Lives and then out into proclamation and it's on and on and on it goes I've got a really good friend of mine He's a pastor friend and he was interviewing for a job and the elders were tough and he was like can you preach and he was like I've got some tape so he's like I think you preach and the one old guy goes well Can you preach from the Old Testament and he was like yeah, I think right he's probably a little bit more You know intelligent than that But he was just he's very nervous because the guy was just kind of like can you preach and then can you preach from the Old Testament? And he goes prove it Turn to Leviticus and tell me about Jesus. I mean right there in the interview. Can you imagine? Preaching Jesus from Leviticus we can barely read through Leviticus much less preach through Leviticus And they're my friend. I'm proud of him I mean he just he turned and there it is because every book of the Bible the passages and the characters and the story plot the Meta narrative all of it. It all then moves toward understanding the person and the work of Jesus better and So the public proclamation that was a part of that early church that has also been a part of the last thousand years is to be making much of Jesus because King Jesus is the hero of our story over and over and over again It's such a joy to preach to be one of the messengers And we pray that as we deliver these messages that you get Jesus That you understand him that you fall in love with him and what he has done for you The cool and I were just at a conference in Dallas and it was a bunch of preaching right and it's a preacher going to hear a bunch of preaching It was wonderful Right, he's just filling you know being in a room and just letting the word just wash over you And one of the last talks was an old guy some of you know him his name is John Piper He's like 80 right he's he's on the on the back end of life definitely on the back end of ministry And I really couldn't tell you what he preached about that day I kind of have a couple of nuggets that I've kept on but I do remember this With just absolute joy That just oozed out of his heart and in his face and then out through his words Was this this unbelievable joy that he had been seen by the Creator God? Bought for by the blood of Jesus and being able to give away good news for the rest of his life And he just just oozed this joy and So with the public proclamation of the word that's what we should all kind of be wanting for It's like not just new gadgets right not just some kind of to-do list But to understand that we are known by the Creator God So much so that he sent his son for us To do the remarkable The early church in the book of Acts heard this message over and over and over again For two thousand years. That's what the church has both been preaching and receiving and I pray that that is true here And so some call to action on this first point is you know after reading through and hearing the book of Acts Where are you in your immersion of the scriptures? Do you find some time? Every single day because that's the words that the scriptures use not me. I'm not trying to be a legalist here But day by day Submitting to the word. Do you find some part of your day to find yourself in the scriptures? Even the hard ones like Joel and Isaiah and song We would really really really encourage you to immerse yourself in the scriptures to understand And the second is public proclamation I do you find yourself underneath the preached word of Christ Jesus or you are gathered together Knowing that something can happen with many of us That we can come together and hear the same thing Do you find yourself sitting under the public proclamation more often than not? All right number two this mission both modeled and maintained for two thousand years so that we can do it It's not just biblical, but it's also again I could have easily done eight or reduced into three, but I think these are the big ones right it's biblical But it's also global and that's what you see in the book of Acts So again like some summary statements right though. They love the Bible and number two This is new right because this was a small little country of just displaced people called Jews and Somehow right in 30 short years it grows to impact the world It's global And so it is hard to read Acts 1 through 28 and it's hard to go from the year 54 to the year 2024 without understanding. There's this been this Unstoppable progress of the gospel. It just continued to go And so from the very early church the gospel did something unthinkable It continued to reach out and it went farther and broader than anybody could have ever imagined Of course it starts acts 1a. That's what we've just read is this idea that Jesus said that I'm about to leave And I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and when I send the Holy Spirit You're going to be my witnesses in power to Jerusalem Judea Samaria and to the ends of the earth and By the end of chapter 28 We've seen all of those things continue to push and move Boundaries moved these this thing has spread is penetrated all kinds of things Including cities and small little regions. It's shown up in Rome We have this promise of Jesus Now you're gonna go and do this thing We all like kind of the end of a sitcoms here. You're like is it gonna happen? And we have historical proof both both in the book of Acts and through 2,000 years that it did what Jesus said it was going to do it was going to reach in to every corner of the world and That's what Luke wanted us to be blown away by that here is this Unending prophecy that it's gonna go and he wanted us to be proven over and over that it did that There's this fantastic picture of just this the effects of water And so it's just this small drip and I'm not sure who did it But they've been dripping this water for 15 25 and 50 years all in the same place just to show the effects of what one little drop would do Somehow some way one drop of water on a rock. I mean a piece of stone For 15 years, where is it smooth? 25 years it grow. There's an indent and 50 years. There's a just a true just a Crater that it's created That's what the gospel has done for planet earth It started small it was met with tons of resistance The people of God look back at Jesus's promise that it's gonna go and they found themselves not just mobilized But encouraged to be a part of that thing I Wonder if we are a people Who are committed to that thing? Which is the simple proclamation of the gospel and seeing it world wide? In the last chapter of 28 Paul is under house arrest in Rome waiting for a trial to see Caesar himself And this is the ruler of the world of all the kings of all the kings Caesar was it and Lucas trying to say see a tiny beat-up no-name man finds him his self inside Rome waiting to see the ruler of the world to tell him you are not king Jesus is and that type of grit and That kind of vision and that kind of courage has been seen over and over and over for the last two thousand years Some things take off and some things don't and we're not real sure why you know some things work and some things don't fidget spinners took off and We're not sure why? every middle school classroom right over the course of like humanity found themselves spinning this will right and over and Over and over and over again so much so that teachers are like can we get rid of the fidget spinners? So as popular as they were They're no longer anymore. Are they they're just not the rage and that was just like four or five years ago and as wonderful as they were in the classroom they never made it to like International diplomacy did they it just never made it to that far and never made it inside like heart surgery or brain surgery because it had its place and it didn't have its place The gospel is something simple something that won't even have you like look twice and yet it has Made it into every single sphere including diplomacy and in judicial system and how we make laws and What how we extend grace to others how we assemble what we do when we assemble? this gospel this good news of Jesus has gone and continues to go for 2,000 years on and on and on it goes So the thing that was modeled right and the thing that was maintained is that it would grow and reach and so for 2,000 years it has Exceeded Expectation we thought it was gonna die and every every single generation like this is it. This is it and yet the gospel continues to go Some people accept it some people reject it Some people fall in love with it other people in prison because of it but one conversion after another both in the book of Acts and throughout church history this gospel has changed lives forever forever and What we see in the book of Acts is that it transcends all kinds of just boundaries Geopolitical boundaries and racial boundaries over and over and over because Christianity is not tribal We don't know just one people group in fact This was one of the major stumbling blocks in the book of Acts is we thought it was Jewish Isn't it not Jewish and we were like I think it's more than that There was a critical moment in Acts chapter 10 where Peter falls asleep and he gets this vision by God himself Only God could change his mind. He said Peter just know that all people are about to eat at my table And this shouldn't surprise Peter because he was there in Acts chapter 2 when he was about when he was doing all of the preaching Right before Pentecost we understood that people from all corners of the world had heard the gospel Parsonians and Medes and Elamites residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Capidocia, Panchus, Phrygia, Asia, Pamphylia, Egypt parts of Libya, Cyrenees, visitors of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Christians and Arabians And this was day one and it just never stopped from there So here we are in a little hick town in Appalachia and we continue to hold up the name of Jesus and say by no other name will people be saved and We beg people from every corner of the globe to continue to think about that Paul took three missionary journeys and he'd come back home and he would give these reports and some of the early reports were this So what do you see out there? What's what's going on out there? And here's this Jew, right? He is a Pharisee the Pharisee of all Pharisees And he's with Barnabas who is a Levite. He's like, so what do you see? I mean these guys were Jewish to their core and they would shake their heads and they would say you would not believe it the Gentiles and droves are coming to know Jesus this great commission that we know To go and make disciples of all nations The report that I'm gonna bring back to you is that it is Happening It happened in Acts for 2,000 years that has been the mission of the church. What about us? Do we have a big enough vision and a big enough plan to understand that the world right both Appalachia our neighbors and the nations all need the gospel of Jesus Gospel work is as vibrant as ever we continue to try to be missional and global at the same time I was in seminary and our professor said close your eyes and close our eyes He says I want you to picture the most normal Christian that you can think of Because I describe them Whatever comes to mind. I want you just you then normal every day Christian. How would you describe them? And then he says let me tell you globally what you should have seen a Middle-aged woman probably about 55 Poor African woman that is the median Christian in the world today Because we'd get isolated and think that maybe the gospel is only looks like us But the reports from the field is that Latin America and Asia and Africa these places Right that maybe some of you have never visited The gospel continues to get inside their eardrums But also deep inside our their hearts as well Are we gonna sit idly by? Right and miss out on what God is doing or we're gonna find where God is at work and get behind that Over and over and over again. That's why we take trips to Arabic down to Honduras That's why we just took a trip to Mozambique to continue to get you on planes Right to go to other parts of the world for your eyes to be opened You will likely not do any good there But your eyes will be changed Your hearts will be changed and maybe you will be convinced that the gospel is more real than it's ever been before Paul takes three international missionary journeys in the book of Acts Over and over and over he can't stop going over and over and over again And so where are you on this global mission? How have you seen yourself a line with this idea? That this book is called the book of acts These are acts actions behaviors of the apostles If we're going to look like they looked and if we're going to look like the last 2000 years We are to going to have to go Now the last one is the shortest right but it is the most important the mission that was modeled and Also maintained for you and I to hold on to type Lee is that if it's going to be biblical We hope that it is if it's going to be global and that's hope. Hopefully where we're going. It must be Absolutely unequivocally it must be spirit filled Over and over and over what you hear from the book of acts The book of acts where it's full of action right is that something preceded that? action and the thing that preceded that action that created the boldness of that created the courage that created the proclamation that gave them just the grit to continue on is The presence of the resurrected Christ that indwelled the early church the Holy Spirit himself The book of acts open saying that John will be baptized John baptized with water But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit And then the book of acts says and then you will receive power When the Holy Spirit has come upon you and then it says and when the day of Pentecost arrives suddenly There was a sound like a rushing wind and they were filled with the Holy Spirit And then it says and then they were gathered together and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they continue to speak the word of God boldly Acts chapter 2 verse 4 after acts chapter 4 verse 8 Acts chapter 4 verse 31 acts chapter 6 verse 3 11 24 7 55 9 17 13 52 and 13 9 all say that the church of God must be filled with the Holy Spirit before it does Anything it the church has to be filled with the person the person of Jesus Fulfilled in the Holy Spirit in you and me That's how we get it done So it's more than courage and it's more than passion and it's definitely more than grit It's this idea. The Holy Spirit wants to do Supernatural things through little bitty old you And it happened over and over and over in the book of acts and it's been happening for two thousand years To be filled with the Holy Spirit and that's where we're at And so the mission does continue whether we like it or not the real question is are we going to be a part of it? We come to the Lord's table and whether you like it or not it goes in two different directions Right the Lord takes two different. I mean directly opposite directions all at the same time You and I are to do something we're supposed to look back in order to remember what Jesus has done and Then we are to look forward and continue in this action over and over week after week until he returns There is a king his name is Jesus He will return for his kingdom for his people And when we approach this table we do it until he returned Has he returned yet? Also not rhetorical he hasn't So does the mission continue and the word is unequivocally yes Will we be a part of it how we've been convinced of it and that's up to you in your heart? We pray that you have been let me pray for us It's the Lord as we come to your table as we realize that this is the table of the Lord where we see and believe you God we want to be Just drenched in your word Because that's what the early church was Bring us now to the table convince now more than ever that your word is living and active and it's meant to fill us So that we can have something else to give to others Gotta pray that through this series that we have seen more than just our home and our town and the people who look Sound or believe like us and help us to look at other boundary lines and say how am I involved in Our neighbors and the nations hearing this good news of Jesus And Help us Lord to be just in awe of normal ordinary people doing extravagant things because of the presence of the Holy Spirit We pray and because we add the tell us to ask Lord that we be filled with your Holy Spirit Not to be drunk with wine, but to be filled with your Holy Spirit And so what is going to intoxicate us what is going to? Fill us. What are we going to abide or lowered? I pray that your Holy Spirit is the one in which we will walk Sensitively We've already sung on how to abide in you. I pray that that is how we walk with your people all day every day And so as these brothers and as these sisters approach this table. I pray that in their heart they will say We pray that we will be found obedient until King Jesus comes back for us all and we ask this in Jesus's name So we would encourage you to go ahead and stand your feet. There are two tables here to my left and right So just come down these aisles and take you as you will Where we strategically sing a communion song so that you're not just passive in this we want you to be active We would pray that you would just say a simple prayer as you approach the table like until he returned And so this is your kind of vote of confidence that he is going to come back and you want to be found faithful there To come brothers and sisters to the table He's out my vision. Oh, Lord of my heart, not be all else to be safe and now I'm out my best thought by day You You You ♪ I see things that I've made ♪