Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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An about you. To turn with
me to the book of acts. Will
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be looking at chapter four of acts
and verses thirty two through thirty five.
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Again, acts chapter four, starting
at Verse Thirty Two through Thirty Five.
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Here now is God's word. Now
the full number of those who believed were
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of one heart and soul, and
no one said that any of the things
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that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common and
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with great power. The apostles were
giving their testimony to the resurrection of the
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Lord Jesus, and Great Grace was
upon them all. There was not a
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needy person among them, for as
many as were owners of lands or houses
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sold them and brought the proceeds of
what was sold and laid it at the
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Apostle's feet, and it was distributed
to each as any had need. Thus
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end as the reading of God's word
you may be seating. As we continue
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in what is commonly called the Church
calendar and as we find ourselves still in
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the season of Easter, we see
in these beginning chapters of the book of
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acts what happened in the life of
the Church following Christ resurrection and all those
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tumultuous events that led to his death
and and his resurrection and the appearances that
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happened after his resurrection. We say, for example, in chapter two of
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Pentecost, how the Holy Spirit came
down and as three thousand people were added
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to the number of the Church that
day. But we also see a distinct
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transition in the the the mentality and
the activities of the apostles. You remember
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on Easter how in Jesus appeared to
the apostles and Issy appeared to them later
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on. He often would find the
behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.
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They were afraid being in that city
of Jerusalem. That's that the same
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thing that they had just witnessed happened
to Jesus, would also happen to them,
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who had so long been at Jesus
side and had been proclaiming and giving
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testimony to Jesus Kingdom. Indeed,
they in those moments were totally like sheep
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without a shepherd. They had been
scattered and whatever political power they thought they
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had, whatever popularity they may have
had, was gone like dust in the
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wind. But yet we see something
very different here, and he's beginning chapters
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of acts where the apostles are no
longer locked behind doors out of fear,
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but are boldly proclaiming and boldly illustrating
to the world around them the Kingdom of
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God. Not only are they preaching
it, but they're living it out without
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fear and in the face of the
very leaders who had put Jesus to death
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just months before. Need this must
have been quite a surprise to these religious
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leaders, who thought finally that they
had turned the page, they finally closed
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the chapter on this Jesus Movement.
They had succeeded in getting the crowds turned
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against Jesus, they had succeeded in
nailing him to a cross and they had
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seen how his disciples had scattered and
they thought, finally this is it.
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And just to make absolutely certain that
this word would not continue to spread,
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they had asked pilot for an armed
guard to seal the tomb, to make
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sure that nobody stole the body of
Jesus and and started preaching that he had
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risen from the dead. But in
fact, despite their every effort, everything
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that they feared was an even more
was coming about in their very midst.
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Now it was not merely Jesus as
the primary preacher and performer of miracles,
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but now these apostles themselves are going
out preaching boldly and performing miracles, and
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the whole church is growing up.
Thousands are being added to their number.
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Once again you see the tables of
turn. Once again it is the religious
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leaders who have their backs against the
walls, not able to refute either the
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miracles or the message that the apostles
are bringing need. Once again they want
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to persecute the church. But because
of the crowds and because of the reality
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of these miracles, you know,
he got some guy who's been lame from
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birth who is now standing as a
forty year old, completely healed by the
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power of God. And how can
they refute that miracle? How can they
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refute the fact that God is working
among them? And so, as this
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church is growing, as the Kingdom
of God is is growing like a flower
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in their very midst, we see
here a remarkable verse. In in verse
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thirty two, it says the full
number of those who believed were of one
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heart and soul. Now, earlier
in this chapter it says that there was
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about five thousand men who are part
of the church. So the Church has
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been growing and we read here that
that the full number were of one heart
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and one soul, which is an
amazing thing for a group that large,
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especially those who did not necessarily know
each other for a very long time.
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The full number who believed were one
heart and one soul, and no one
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said that any of the things that
belonged to him was his own, but
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they had everything in common. What
we see here in the midst of this
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city, in the very midst of
the political powers that were opposed to Jesus,
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ironically, was a very fulfillments of
the things that the Old Testament prominent
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prophets had longed for and looked forward
to. They had looked forward to a
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kingdom that would grow within their midst, where people's hearts would be changed.
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We're not only there would be glory, not only would the messiah be enthroned
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on high, but also that people's
hearts would be changed and that they would
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love one another. This is the
salient criticism that God gave of his people
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in the Old Testament, was that
their hearts were hardened. He said to
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them again and again, I desire
mercy, not sacrifice. In other words,
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all these animals you're slaughtering for me, they're not making me forget the
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fact that you are not being merciful
to each other. You are not loving
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each other, your hearts are not
open to one another. I desire,
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I demand, mercy, not sacrifice. That is what he wanted. He
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wanted them to to do justly,
to love mercy and to walk humbly with
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her. God. It was the
heart matter that was important to God,
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and what we see in verse thirty
two here is that heart matter is being
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fulfilled and the very midst of those
who pretended to look for the Kingdom of
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God but were really opposed to the
Kingdom of God. They who thought they
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were the leaders, they who thought
they were on the front lines, who
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were the first who are going to
taste power when God's kingdom came in its
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glory. They are now on the
sidelines because of their lack of faith,
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as in fact, God's power is
revealed in their midst. The hearts of
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these people are opened, and the
tangible way that they expressed that to one
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another. It says, is that
no one said that any of the things
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that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
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Now you would spect among family members, people who have grown up and who
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have especially a biological relationship to one
another, that they would work for one
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another, that they would sacrifice for
one another, that they would provide for
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one another, and the New Testament, this is one of the arguments that
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the apostles used to tell Christians.
You know, you really need to care
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for your families, because even the
gentiles, even the Pagans, do that.
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This is something that even natural people, because of their family ties,
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know how to do. You see
parents working so that their children can get
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an education, you see them trying
to make the next generation better than the
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previous generation, and these things we
expect of natural family members. But here
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we see something that is remarkable in
the way that this love that these people
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have is expressed, and that is
these people, who may not have even
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known each other for very long,
who are certainly not family members in the
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immediate sense, we're nevertheless sharing things
with one another and having everything in common
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as if they were a family.
They saw somebody in need, they provided
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what that person needed without question,
without even thinking twice. They were willing
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to treat one another as a family, and this, I say, is
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evidence of the reality of the Kingdom
of God growing up in their very midst.
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That we might ask a certainly people
looking back into history, might ask
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what made the difference? What is
it that broke these people's hearts? What
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is it that made these strangers who
had just come together have such love for
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one another? And I think we
see the answer to that in verse thirty
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three. We see that in this
whole passage that I read, versus three
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two through thirty five, it talks
mainly about, you know, the physical
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sharing that they did with their their
their goods. But Luke, here the
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author Tucks away this verse right in
the middle so that we don't lose sight
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of why this happened. Verse Three
Three says with great power, the apostles
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were giving their testimony to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Great
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Grace was upon them all. This
is the reason they came together, this
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is the reason that they felt to
be a family's because of the message of
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Christ. The message are the one
who came down from heaven, who took
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on human flesh, who walked in
our place, who lied the perfect life,
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who didn't disobey a single law and
who had all the power to his
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fingertips to do whatever he wanted,
and yet who chose out of humility,
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who chose an obedience to his heavenly
father, to die for sinners, to
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take their sins upon himself, to
have his record stained with all the sins
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of his people and to hang there
on a cross, naked, bloodied,
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and to endure that shame, that
humiliation, of someone who, just a
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week before had been on the precipice
of seemingly political power and glory, free
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on Palm Sunday, and who had
been willing to take that all aside to
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die for his people, and who, triumphant rose on the third day,
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having paid that debt, having made
that sacrifice, having paid for sins and
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and wiped our slates clean. He
rose again. It is this message which
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the apostles were now emboldened to preach, regardless of their own death, because
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now they knew the one who had
conquered death, the one who had the
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power of eternal life, and they
had seen him in their midst, they
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had seen the wounds in his body, they knew that his resurrection was a
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fact. And now, with this
testimony, with this inside and with great
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power, they preached the word.
And for this reason people came together.
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People came together and treated each other
as brothers and sisters, in Christ because
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they knew that that was reason enough
to be a family. We see here
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in the following verses, in verses
thirty four and thirty five, more information
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about how that came to tangible expression, as they gave to one another not
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simply freely, but also magnanimously and
with full open hearts. It says here
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in Verse Thirty Four, there was
not a needy person among them, for
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as many as were owners of lands
or houses, sold them and brought the
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proceeds of what was sold and laid
it at the Apostle's feet. Now think
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about this. You got, you
know, five thousand plus people in this
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church, and surely there are going
to be some among them who were poorer,
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perhaps even destitute, for various reasons. Maybe they were lame, maybe
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they were blind, maybe something like
that had kept them from making money.
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And yet now there were people,
there were people in the church who,
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on the other end of the spectrum, were very rich, who had houses
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and lands, who are willing to
sell those things and give magnanimously to those
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who were needy. And just think
about the the the amount of giving that
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is involved here. You know,
we all give a certain amount and you
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know some people believe in the ten
percent tithes, some people believe you know
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whatever is on your heart, but
giving somebody a house is kind of a
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big deal. I mean, I
don't care what the housing market looks like,
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it's a big deal to sell your
house and say I ain't to bring
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the proceeds from this house and because
I know they are destitute people in this
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church, I am to give everything
from this house or from this tract of
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land that I just sold so that
their needs can be met in at that
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is what people did. They gave
from the heart magnanimously, and it was
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successful. We read here there was
not a needy person among them, because
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of what these people do. Now, we also read here that what they
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did they did in an orderly fashion. Certainly, their hearts were opened wide,
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certainly they loved one another, but
they did not do this as a
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church in a way that was foolish
or in a way that was without safeguards.
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Let me put it that way.
For we read here that the people
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brought their guests and laid it at
the Apostle's feed and it was distributed to
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each as any had need. This
is something that we see later on in
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the church as they developed deacons,
as the Office of Deacon is established,
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and as apostles such as Paul lay
down rules for who can receive money from
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the church. That was very important
for them to safeguard what was being done
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so that you would not have people
trying to just come into the church for
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the sake of getting money. We
see here again the principle that the Holy
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Spirit, though he is a powerful
Holy Spirit, as also an orderly holy
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spirit and the spirit who moved in
people's lives and and the love that was
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shared was not done without this order
and without this accountability, so that all
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good order could be preserved and so
that there would not be abuses of people
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who were from the heart giving large
sums of money for those who genuinely had
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need. It was under the oversight
of the Apostles and the end result,
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again, is that there was not
a needy person among them within this church.
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Now, I would say at this
point, speaking of these successes and
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speaking of this this love that was
poured out and speaking about the fact that
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we see here the Kingdom of God
growing up in the midst of Palestine here,
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that we as Christians are not actually
that far removed from the early church.
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Certainly, there are many years that
have passed between this early church and
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us, but what was going on
here was the fulfillment of the Kingdom of
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God, and that is something that
is still being fulfilled in our very midst.
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The same Christ that was proclaimed back
then is the same Christ who is
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proclaimed now. The Same Holy Spirit
that was poured out back then is the
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same Holy Spirit who is poured out
now. We are today the church the
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Community of believers, just as they
were the church in the community of believers
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back then. And we have a
risen Christ who has conquered death so that
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we can be confident that nothing can
stand in the way of his kingdom,
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even today, as we see it
spreading around the world. I would also
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say that in these these these verses, we see an answer to all the
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the systems that the world has tried
to develop to solve the human problem.
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For Dy throughout human history, people
have tried to create utopias in the world
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to try to overcome the sin in
the brokenness which this fallen world so obviously
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manifests. We have seen communism,
we have seen subcultural groups like the hippies
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and their various communes try on a
human level to replicate something that comes close
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to salvation, to something that that
comes close to love in their minds,
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something that will heal this broken world, and yet we see that it's it
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fails every single time because it is
absence of the true power and the true
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love that only comes from God,
through Christ and his Holy Spirit. My
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grandfather, who did not profess,
at least in my hearing, to be
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a believer, used to mock this
text and the used to joke and say,
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you know, the early church,
they were a bunch of communists.
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See, they shared everything in common. There were a bunch of communists back
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then, and I'm sure that there
are other people who have, looking at
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this verse, thought the same thing, that the church is basically a commune
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and that what was going on was
kind of like Marxism today. But I
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would submit to you that this is
nothing of the case that was going on
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in this early church. In fact, I would submit to you that this
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is one of the most anti communist
passages and all of scripture. We do
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not see anything here of class envy
or class hatred, of the rich greedily
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holding back whatever they can and the
poor having to resort to violent revolution to
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get ahold of their share of the
Pie. But we see something very,
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very different, something that cannot be
replicated by any political party or by any
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human movement. We see something coming
from heaven itself, as the rich have
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their own hearts broken and opened,
as they are giving in common to the
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poor. The Apostles did not take
anything away from them, they did not
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compel and we see that in the
following verses and Chapter Five, where Peter
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tells them that they nobody is compelling
you to give anything. This is your
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property, it remains your own.
But because of the love they had,
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they freely gave what they what was
needed for the welfare of the poor and
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the destitute in the church. And
this is something, again, that cannot
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be replicated by any human movement,
but only comes from God and is a
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sign that God was truly working in
this church and it is truly moving and
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as again, as we read in
verse three four, this was successful.
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There was not a needy person among
them because of the giving that was going
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on. Well, at this point
somebody might be asking me, well,
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you painted a pretty rosy picture of
life back then, and you've also said
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that we today in the church have
the same spirit and the same Gospel and
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the same message. So we should
be exactly like that, right. Why
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isn't everything Hunky Dorry in the Church
today as it appears to be back in
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the Church back then? What is
different about us today? And I would
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submit to you that, first of
all, yes, we need to admit
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that everything is not hunky Dory today, but I think, despite what we
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read in this passage, we also
need to admit that everything was not Hunky
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Dory in the early church either.
What we see in this passage is true
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who the true pouring out of God's
spirit and the true expression of love,
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but what we also see in the
new testaments, and especially in the the
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letters of the apostles to the various
churches, is that they still struggled with
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sin, just as we do today. Let me give you an illustration that
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helps me to understand this a little
bit better and as Arizonans might might resound
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with you. If you take a
typical Arizona desert like the one we live
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in, and you cultivate the soil
and you plant seeds and you pour water
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on it, you can get things
to grow here. I mean they have
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golf courses here and they have lots
of green grass. You can see people's
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lawns that are actually green and it's
a beautiful thing. But if you look
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around, even if you're standing in
the middle of summon's yard or even if
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you're on one of those golf courses, and you look around, you will
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find evidences of desert. Even there. You'll see evidence that even though new
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life is growing, there are still
remnants of the old, dead desert there
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as well. There is cultivation,
there is new life growing up, but
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it is growing up in the midst
of a place of death and they are
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remnants of death even there. And
I would submit to you, beloved,
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that in that sense we are no
different than the early church today. They
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wrestled with sins, even though they
had love for one another. There were,
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you know, if you go to
the very next chapter in acts,
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we see the story of N and
I us and Sapphara and how they lied
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to the Holy Spirit into the church
about how much money they were giving.
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And we're struck dead as a result
of that lie. But indeed, they
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say they wrestled with sins, just
as we do today. And yet they
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saw and experience also the new life
and the fruits of the Holy Spirit that
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were possible only through the message of
Jesus Christ. Yes, beloved, we
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await being finally perfected. We await
to Christ to come again so that he
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can consummate what he has started.
But the good news for us even now
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is that he has started it.
Even now we can taste the fruits of
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the Holy Spirit. Even now we
can express righteousness, which we cannot before,
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because of what God has done in
our hearts. And if you've been
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a Christian for any length of time, you know what a different creature you
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were before you came to Christ from
what you are now. You know the
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truth that in Him we are a
new creation. But you also know,
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if you've been a Christian for any
length of time, how difficult sometimes it
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is to wrestle with those sins and
how much we must struggle to put to
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death the old man, even as
we walk according to the spirit who is
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undoubtably within us. And if we
look at the Church today, the the
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same struggle happens as well. The
good news is we do see today strangers
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coming together around the name of Christ. We do see people in even in
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this church. I look around the
demographics are very diverse. I mean we
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have people who are young and old, we have people who are of different
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racial backgrounds, we have people who
are maybe even from different countries. And
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why are we all here this morning? It is because of the name of
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Christ. Why do we have any
love for one another at all? It
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is because of the love of Christ. Why are we new creatures? It
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is because of the love of Christ. That is the good news. And
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so you might be saying, well, how do we work on the bad
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news? How do we how do
we continue to grow so that we can
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be more perfect, so that we
can be more perfect and our love for
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one another and that we can overcome
more and more the brokenness that we see
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in the world around us? And
again I would point you, will love
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it, back to verse thirty three
of this text. Once again, the
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thing that brings us together, once
again, the thing that will help us
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to continue to grow in our sanctification, is the same thing that brought us
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to faith in the first place,
and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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That which broke our hearts, is
the thing that will continue to break
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our hearts, is a message of
the cross, is the message of his
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kingdom, the message of something which
is not of this world but as of
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Heaven, the message of a Lord
who loved us so much that he took
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on our flesh, walked in our
shoes and died in our place and now
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is ruling and reigning at the right
hand of God the father. And if
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we keep our eyes fixed upon him, as Paul says, in the heavenly
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places, that will give us the
proper perspective, that will keep our eyes
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and our focus where they need to
be so that we can overlook whatever differences
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on human level we might have with
one another and come together around the name
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of Christ and over the body of
Jesus Christ, because that is what is
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truly our reason for being together and
united today. Scripture teaches us in many
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places about our heavenly inheritance and about
the things that we are already participating in
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now. You could even say that
we are spending our inheritance even now as
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Christians, because even though we wait
for the future, even though we wait
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for Christ to come back and to
see that glory, we even now have
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been given the Holy Spirit as a
down payments of eternal life. We even
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now can bear those fruits of the
Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace,
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patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. We
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even now can bear those in our
lives because of what God is doing for
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us, and so we ought to
consider our lives now, more and more,
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is being pilgrims in this evil world, as those who do not belong,
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who are not citizens of earth and
of this present world system, but
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who are citizens even now of Christ's
kingdom, who even now have a spirit
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and who even now are written in
the book of life. We ought more
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and more to turn our eyes away
from getting things for ourselves, whether it's
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chasing worldly ambitions or acquiring money for
our selves, or whatever the case may
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be, and also rather to think
about how we can store up treasure in
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heaven, and with the Lord's help, we will more and more do that.
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We know we must ultimately await Christ, who is the author and perfector
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of our faith, to do the
work. But, beloved, he has
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already given us a means of grace
by which we can grow. He has
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already given us the Lord's supper,
he's already given US baptism, he has
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already given us his word. Indeed, he is the word incarnate and he
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has given us this word so that
we can grow even now, even as
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we await for him to come back
and finish what he has started. We
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can even now be transformed by the
renewing of our minds and more and more
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bear the image of Christ in our
lives. And if we do that,
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not only individually will we be transformed, not only in our families, but
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also in the Church and the body
of Christ. Will we see this again
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and again and again, how love
is poured out in strange places where you
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never expect it, where the Gospel
is priest and miraculous and wonderful things happen.
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Indeed, the conversion of one center
is a miracle. Who can who
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can do surgery on man's heart,
but God alone? But indeed, I
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would I would submit to you that
if we keep our focus on the Gospel
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and as we see the preaching the
Gospel, we will see amazing things in
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the world around us, even as
the apostles saw in the early days of
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the church. Let us pray
