Grace Chapel Bible Ministries

Worship Call 1159 "Peter's Second Sermon" - 2024/10/09

After seeing this man who had never took a step on his own two feet ever, the people were amazed of what had just occurred by way of a miracle. but it was not about this man at all but about what the message of Christ was going to do for the souls that day to bring them into the Church.

Duration:: 32m
Broadcast on:: 09 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

(upbeat music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (piano music) (gentle piano music) - Welcome to Worship Call with Bible Teacher Buzz Lawback. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse-by-verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. - From A.W. Tozer, pursuing God. And this devotion today is everyday worship. Their heart is far from me. In vain, they do worship me. And that's Matthew 15, eight through nine. It's my experience that the totality of our Christian lives, our entire attitude as persons must be be toward the worship of God. If you do not know the presence of God in your office, your factory, your home, the God is not in the church you attend either. I became a Christian when I was a young man working in a tire factory in Akron, Ohio, Akron, Ohio. I remember my work there, but I remember my worship there too. I had plenty of worshipful tears in my eyes. No one ever asked me about them, but I would not have hesitated to explain them. You can learn to use certain skills until they are automatic. I become so skillful that I could do my work and then I could worship God even while my hands were busy. If the love of God is in us and the spirit of God is breathing, praise within us. All the musicians, all the musical instruments in heaven are suddenly playing in full support. Even our thoughts become a sanctuary in which God can dwell. And I will give a, certainly an amen to that, that it gives you a sense of every day and every place of worship, whether you're on a roof, nailing, shingles on a roof, or if you're in a ditch, digging a hole, or wherever you are, there is that sense of worship. And I really like that this morning. Father in heaven, thank you for this message. Just morning from A.W. Tozer and pursuing the Lord and then just the message of the spirit that speaks to the heart of the matter. And I pray having my father too of that, our spirit will be, that your spirit will be so filled in us today, that our hearts and our minds will overflow and praise to you, that every day is ministry, every day is worship, everything that we do, that there's a worshiping element. And that comes from the occupation with our Lord Jesus Christ. Open up our hearts this morning as we continue to study the word, niecing, we pray in your precious Son's name. Amen. And this is the fourth day of the week. And God's created order the ninth day of the 10th month, 2024th year of our Lord. And this is another five day in the Lord as we turn to Acts 3.11 as we continue our study this morning. While he was clinging to Peter, then John, all the people ran together to them after the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. That when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, Mayor of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Or why do you gaze at us? As if by your own power or piety, we have made him walk. And certainly there is an excitement in the air that this is something they didn't expect. They didn't expect to wake up in the morning and go to the temple as they do every day to see something like this. This man, as we talked about yesterday, he never walked a day in his life. And so the miracle isn't just about him walking, but the miracle is about all the muscle and it is bone structure and everything. Most, as we mentioned yesterday, let me turn this down just a little bit, there we go. As we bring back down over this way, all right. As we talked about yesterday, most people who walk, walk generally within their first year and by their one year, I want to think that's right. About one year old, they're tiling around the house. Mike, you've got grandkids and I can tell you. And so next thing you know, they're tiling around. This man never walked a day in his life. And all of a sudden, he's walking like a skilled, like all of, like somebody who's been walking all of his life and the crowds saw this. They knew him, they saw him at the temple. They saw him each day. And they were compelled to see exactly. And so that caught their attention. But what they didn't realize here was the fact that they are, that they bring that down here. There we go. What they didn't realize was the fact that, not a fact, let me do this. Let me try this. (mumbles) I'll just put you right there and put you up here. Yeah. That's right. But what they didn't realize was the fact that, this miracle wasn't just for this man. This happenstance, this was not going on, but it, this was for each one of them personally. This was a personal, God personally touching each one of their lives. Because there was a message that's attached to this. You see, it wasn't about the speaker. It wasn't about them. It wasn't about this man who is now walking. But this was an opportunity. It was about each one of them that day that's going to hear this message. This was certainly a miracle. Peter and John and this lame man came together for a, it was a divine appointment here. Let's go back to our passage. I'm not even in here yet. So let's go back to here. So we are in Acts chapter three. And the men who had been lame, or Miss Mother, oh, but we already got that. We're coming down here. While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together in them in the so-called protocol of Solomon, full of amazement. But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, men of Israel. Why are you amazed at this? Or why do you gaze at us? As if by our own power or piety, we had made him walk. Quickly, Peter gets out of the way of God's glory. The one thing that we do not want to do as God is working in our lives. It is ego, it is our arrogance. It's so much want to stand in a way and bring the glory to ourselves. This is why Peter, this is why Jesus said in the book and Matthew that whatever you do in secret, whenever you give, you give in secret, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Sometimes that's impossible to do. Sometimes you're going to do things that are out in the open and people are going to see it. That's not always possible. But nonetheless, you want to quickly get out of the way. This is also why we read in Paul's letter when he tells Timothy speaking about the elders that they should not be young men. Because it is a difficult thing to get the attention of people and it's difficult to step out of the way of God's glory. So here it is that Peter quickly directs their attention off of him and off of this man to the power by which this was accomplished. But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? And why do you gaze at us as if it was our own power and piety, we had made him walk. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. Uh-oh, here we go, here comes condemnation again. Okay? Here it is that, first of all that Peter is laying it out to him. He's opened him up and piercing him. You know that in, in sermon, I've heard my share of people complaining about a fire in brimstone sermons. And while not all fire in brimstone, not all sermon should be fired brimstone or so condemning. But there should be those that we should recognize that the poverty of man and sin should be taught and our depravity and our falling short as scripture tells us that we've all come short and from the glory of God. And there is a time to recognize that our falling short that we might come to repentance in that regard. But he begins with 13, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus. And we mentioned last night during our study last night about, and I think we mentioned Sunday as well. But in the earlier in Genesis, we have the Genesis 926. He also said blessed, he also said blessed be the Lord, the God of Shim and let Canaan be his servant. This blessed is Barak or Baruch, which are the equivalent of Eulogatos and that we find in Ephesians chapter one. And it means blessed. And how is it blessed? This word means to salute, it means to bow down, it means to take a knee to when it comes to the Lord. It's to give him honor, it's a gift in praise. And it's to bring the attention to. And Shim is also within lineage of Shim, there is the God of also the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all of these three that God had come to directly and established these are the patriarchs. These are the ones that through them comes the promises, the covenant that was made with them, made with the nation. So the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant, Jesus. This word servant, Jesus is pious. And pious is, it can mean son like in Padilla, but it also can be used as offspring, a girl or a boy, but it can also mean servant. Usually we see servant as slave or do lost, but this is not a slave in a sense, but it's a servant, Jesus came to serve. His life was to serve the Lord. He was a direct representative of God. And few passages on that is Acts 3, 26. For you first, God raised up his servant. Let me see, and it says it, or his son, it raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from his wicked ways. 427, who are truly in this city that were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. Acts 4, 30. While you extend your hand to heal the signs and wonders, take place through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And it is, and also if we go back to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, quote from the Lord, therefore when he comes into the world, he says, "sacrifice with offerings, you have not desired, "but a body you have prepared for me." And whole burnt offering and sacrifices, your sin, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, "Behold, have come and to scroll "in a book, it is written of me, to do your will, O God." And many of things, Jesus also told his disciples that I must do the work of him who sent me. So Jesus never came to do his own will, but the will of the Father, to serve the Father. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish. So there was that, so here it is that Jesus is the servant of God, that sends him into the world. And so we also, okay, I'm not gonna go there, servant Jesus, the one that you, here's the condemning part now, the one that you, okay, listen up, okay, this is gonna cut to the quick, this is the condemnation part of this. And a sermon, accidentally let's go back to, a sermon should be able to open up. A sermon should be not just there to build you up, but the sermon should open you up and should go right into the quick and allow you to see yourself as you truly are. The Word of God, when you look in the mirror, in the mirror of God's Word, it should be, if so condemning, so let it be. Because there's also salvation, there's also deliverance, there's also forgiveness with the Word. And you must recognize what? You must recognize yourself for who you really are and the Bible will open you up to this. That's the importance of Bible study, okay? So, and here's a sermon from Peter. The one that you have delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate. Here it is, you took a Gentile, here's a Roman Gentile, a dog, you have taken the one, you have taken the one that was sent by God, you have rejected him, you sent him over to be judged by a Roman, the Roman government, the dogs, you cast them to the dogs. That's, and dogs they refer to the Gentile or the Romans as dogs, when he had decided to release him. And remember this going back to Matthew that he, he says, Pilate wanted to release him. It was Pilate who judged him to be innocent. He says, I find no wrong with this man. And it was his wife who, Pilate's wife who told Pilate, don't have nothing to do with this man. Don't have nothing to do with this, he saw it in a dream. So he says, okay, this is what I'll do, I'll bring two criminals up, I'll bring Jesus, I'll bring Barabbas. Certainly they would choose Jesus to release Jesus and crucify Barabbas, no they didn't. And they stood there and they shouted, crucify him. We want Barabbas to crucify Jesus. And this had to be, here it is, and this one's still alive by the, not Barabbas, but Jesus is still alive. And serving Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. But you disowned the holy and the righteous one. You, the holy and the righteous one, the one set apart, remember the holy one, the one who actually set, the one who sat on the throne, the one who's the angels who said, holy, holy, holy. That's the one that you rejected. That's the one that you said, no, we don't want this one. And the righteous one, the one who had, the righteous one had no sin, the righteous one that was innocent, the righteous one that held up the standard better than anyone else. He broke no law and you condemned them, which means that you've also, you've not only rejected God's holiness, but you've also rejected his righteousness and asked for a murder to be granted to you. Cut and quick to, you chose the wicked over the righteous. And that's what the world does today. That's where the persecution comes today. You look at the world today and people choosing the guilty and having sympathy and having their heart for the guilty. But yet at the same time, persecuting and persecuting and jailing the righteous. So these people, God's people are doing the same thing. But put him to death, the prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. And there were many witnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ walked, that was still alive, that he walked out of that tomb, that he was among them those 40 days. And so this is a time in many of these were among them. So the very ones, the very ones that they were gonna stand before as a judge or who we are going to stand before the judge, he's still alive. And on the basis of faith, in his name, it is the name Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know. Okay, two things that we know that Jesus is still alive. First of all, first of all, there are many witnesses that have seen him alive. And he is still, and by his authority, that he still lives. Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, and he's not face to face with them at this moment. But nonetheless, it is his authority and his power that still governs it. That's still in play right here. You know, you read in Hebrews chapter four, that the word of God is alive and powerful. And there are two aspects you can see. There is the living word, and there is the written word. And we often look at that, at least I do, often looked at that as being the written word. But Jesus is also the Lagos. He is the word. He is, as John says he is, and he is alive, and he is a powerful, and his authority still remains. And those that continue in wickedness have rejected his righteousness. They have rejected his holiness. You see, the preaching here is condemnation, but Peter is not the one who condemns. Peter is only opening their eyes to their wrong, but they have the opportunity, if it's the authority, condemnation must come breezy, salvation. So first of all, they are cut to the quit. Their hearts are troubled at this point. There's condemnation, and the question within the heart is what do we do, having much a regis sin? What are we going to do? And this is, so the word of God also, when it condemns the word of God also saves. It also delivers us from ourselves. It delivers us from who we were. It delivers us and opens up the door that we might repent. And on the basis of faith in his name, I always like to say, somebody asked, and I think the next person says this, I'm gonna ask back, I'm going to ask a few questions of myself, but we've always had people say, when we're going through troubles or whatever, and they say, well, you just gotta have faith, and we'll, and I wanna ask the question, faith in what? Faith in who? Faith in, and inevitably, if they're religious people, normally you'll get faith in God. I find it more and more to recognize that people do have a problem. They don't have no problem with talking about God, but they certainly don't wanna name the name Jesus. And when you come to realize that, that people don't wanna say the name Jesus, they don't wanna be labeled as a cook, as a Jesus freak, I guess, I don't know what it is, but they have no problem with saying God, am I right? They have no problem with God, but they do have a problem with naming the name Jesus, but faith has to have an object. There has to be an object to your faith. Faith alone is not faith, it's called faith, F-A-T-E, but faith has to have an object. Now, on the basis of faith, in the name, there's no other name given unto heaven by which one can be saved. It is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man, whom you see and know, validation that Jesus Christ is still living. And do we see Christ working in our lives today? Yes, we do. I hope you do, I certainly do. And so I haven't seen Jesus face to face, at least as far as I know, I haven't, you know, he's, but nonetheless, by his power, by his authority, I know Jesus lives. And I know he's at the right hand of the father, okay, and Jesus, which has strengthened this man, whom you see and know, you know this man, him walking, you see, it's not just about the man, but it's about them now. The attention is off the man who is now walking, the attention is now off Peter, who deflects the glory brought to him to bring their attention to in faith to the one who healed this man. That is the very one that's gonna heal them. And the faith which comes through him has given him this perfect help in the presence of you all. And now brethren, I know that you have acted in ignorance, just as your fathers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ, which suffer, he has thus been fulfilled. So this was to come. These people did this in ignorance. He's not giving them now. They are still accountable to their ignorance. Now there is going to be a means of repentance. So as we close out today, it's a recognition of the, where do we stand? And if it's in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he certainly is living. Do we see him living, do we see our Lord Jesus Christ as he's working within our lives? And when we do see our miracle, when it's a miracle that we see a person's cancer that is reversed, when the doctors only gave this person only so long to live. When we see things around us that certainly the hand of God, and if it wasn't for the hand of God, then no way we could explain things within our lives. God is still in the miracle business. And it is God who performs miracles as will. But it's not just for the benefit, excuse me, it's not just for the benefit of those who, the miracle happens to, but it's to get all of our attention that Jesus Christ lives, and that by believing and trusting in him, there is that miracle of taking that which is dead, our spirit, which is alienate from a relationship with Christ and brings us into the full body, soul and spirit, that one who can now approach God. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day and all you many blessings. Open up our hearts too, as we continue to study your word, and we pray these things in Christ name, amen. All right, not a fine day in the Lord, keep your armor on, keep fighting a good fight of faith. Lord, will and spirit God and raptor penance. We'll be back here in the A.M. - Thank you, you can hear this message again, as well as previous lessons. And get note by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) [BLANK_AUDIO]