Acts 13: What Kind of Believer Are You?

thank you very much from the back welcome to sandals Church man I'm so glad you guys are here we're in this series called 252 where we're studying the Book of Luke and the book of Acts and it's just a great time when we're learning about the stories of Jesus and we're learning about the history of the church and so I just want to welcome you today we're going to have a great time we're gonna look at acts 13 so open your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 13 and we're gonna be asking this question today what kind of believer are you and so a lot of times we think in a belief as something we have or we don't have we either are or we're not and oftentimes what I have found is people all everyone everywhere believe something and so the question is what kind of believer are you and so today we're gonna ask that question and some of you at the end of service are gonna have an opportunity you could become a believer in Jesus Christ and so I'm excited about that today and some of you have an appointment with Christ today and I'm excited to see you change your life forever for the good but I want to welcome everybody and we're gonna begin with the word of Prayer where I'm gonna pray for my message so I just communicate clearly God's truth and I'm gonna pray for your ears I know a lot of us have a DD so that we can stay focused and hear God's Word today so at Sandals we bow our heads and close our eyes out of respect for God so let's just do that together as we pray Heavenly Father God I just ask in the name of Jesus that you would bless us with your words and your truth father we need to hear the reality of who Jesus is so desperately today and god I pray that you would speak to that to us through the message today we pray this in your name Amen so let's open our Bibles we're gonna look at acts 13 verse 1 and this is an important moment in the life of the church because this is when the church first began to take seriously the fact that the world needs to know about Jesus not just Jews not just people in the Middle East but people all over the globe Europeans Africans eventually Americans and now we're going into China in India all over the world people need to know that God loves them and this is the church's first movement of ever telling the world about Jesus and so we're gonna take a look at how this happens so it says among the prophets and verse one of the church at Antioch I want you to circle that word Antioch some of you aren't history buffs you've never heard of the city called Antioch it was the third largest Roman city in the ancient world right behind Rome Alexandria and then Antioch why haven't you heard of it because the Persians right our Iranian brothers and sisters came over and sacked it what does that mean destroyed it in AD 540 and it's never really been heard from again but it was the capital of Christianity for about the first 400 years and ultimately was replaced by Constantinople that it's now Istanbul and then Rome but it was the center the epicenter for Christianity and this is the place get this where Christians were first called Christians it's not something that we called ourselves people didn't wake up one day and say we're Christians non-believers called us Christians and it stuck so we recalled Christians at Antioch major major city in this city of Christianity there were five leaders the first was known as Barnabas he's one of the most famous leaders some of you've heard of him he's the tribal companion to the Apostle Paul super-important in the life of the church okay you probably even heard of this guy Simeon called the black man okay political correctness hadn't been invented yet so he's just the black guy so and we'll talk about that later thank you hope you're black that you're laughing okay so we'll talk about him in a little bit and then there's Lucius from Cyrene we don't know what color his skin was he just Lucius and then I love this guy Manny and circle this guy you never forget to forget this guy Manny and it says the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas and you're like why is that important because you guys I'm gonna let you in on a little secret the Bible wasn't written in English it's written in Greek and so scholars don't know how to translate this passage but I'm gonna be real with you and I'm gonna tell you what it says it says mannion was breastfed with King Herod which is just weird right that's just weird but that's what it says apparently they're really close like you're really close if you are Co breastfed with someone and I think anybody feel like that's awkward that's just like an awkward introduction yeah I was breastfed with King Herod well welcome Manion thank you for sharing we have sole care here for you and we want to help you grow in your issues but right that's just a little awkward I'm breastfeeding is a little uncomfortable tissue anyways but I got to tell you a couple years ago right I mean is for guys women it's like it's so natural right is beautiful for guys it's like whoa a couple years ago I was preaching at this church this is a true story I don't make any stories this really happened to me somebody asked me why do these things always happen to you I'm like I don't know I'm going to ask Jesus one day but I was preaching in Southern California because sandals used to just have evening services and so I would to make money I would preach at other churches as a guest speaker in the mornings and so I'm shaking hands with people and people are walking by great sermon pastor good sermon pastor we hope you never come back pastor right something like that and this woman comes up to me and she says it's so good to see you again and I'm like again she said yeah I used to breastfeed you when you were little I am NOT the king of non awkward introductions but I'm gonna guess that is not how you introduce yourself to a pastor I used to breastfeed you and I didn't know what to say and so I was just like well I've moved on to cow milk now so I think we're good I think like right right I think we're good so what do you do with that you know what you do you call your mom I'm like mom I met this weird old lady at church today who says she used to breastfeed me what is up and my moms like wow it was the 70s that's what my mom said it was the 70s we were hippies and you were hungry you were a hungry little guy so I'm like mom how many women how many women breastfed me mom and she starts listing names and I'm like stop stop stop so I'll be in therapy on Monday and you can pray for me but apparently 2000 years ago it would mean I was royalty so I got that working for me okay so welcome to awkward moments at Sandals okay then there's people are already texting me like pictures of milk bottles and all kinds of stuff so it's been it's been a great weekend last week it was poop this week its breast feeding so you never know what next week will be so it also says that one of these guys name was Saul now you don't know Saul but most of you've heard him as the Apostle Paul this is the chapter where the Apostle Paul really begins to take leadership in the church so he's known as Saul and he's going to transition and go by his name Paul and we'll talk about that in a minute verse 2 one day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting now some of you don't know what fasting is fasting is when you don't eat food for a period of time so clearly these are not Baptist right because when Baptists gather they always eat and it's a potluck so these guys aren't Baptist but they're gathering together that was way funnier than that and there's not even all the Baptist's are convicted but one of these men or these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting so what is fasting and this is key if you're not a Christian or you are a Christian I want you to listen up because a lot of us don't understand this that becoming a Christian saying yes to Jesus means learning to say no to yourself now this is where Christianity and all modern religions disagree modern religions and philosophy says God would never ask you to say no to yourself because God would never give you a desire that he didn't expect you to fulfill I Got News for you the Bible says you have lots of desires that God doesn't want you to fulfill he wants your desires to be fulfilled in him and so the way that we learn to let our spiritual desires be fulfilled as we say no to our physical desires and if you've never fasted it is a great way to say no to your physical desires because your body will be shouting at you and cussing you out by like dinnertime because it wants to eat and so they're gathered together because they want to hear from God they want to say no to themselves because they really really want to hear from God on some issues and so while they're fasting and worshiping the Bible says the Holy Spirit spoke now some of you guys have never heard from God and that's fine God doesn't have to speak to every person verbally audibly everywhere God has spoken to you through the Scriptures he speaks to you through your church he speaks to you through your pastor but from time to time God in his own wisdom in his own desires will speak audibly to you and God speaks to these individuals these five guys who are praying and worshiping together and he says I want you to dedicate Barnabas and Saul for this special work I have called them now Circle that word dedicate because some of you you know you grew up Catholic or you grew up in churches where you baptize children at sandals we don't baptize children we believe that baptism is something that happens when you as someone who's aware of the decisions you're making repent of your sins and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ so what we do at Sandals church is we dedicate children to the Lord parents can dedicate and say God I want to offer you this child to you for your service you've blessed us with this child and we dedicate this kid to Jesus and so we do that so these guys aren't being saved they're not being baptized what they're being is set apart and they're dedicated to God for a special work that he has called them so they're not exactly sure what this means verse 3 so after more prayer and fasting the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way now some of you have never been to a service where people lay hands and I want to encourage you we only do this at Sandals church when we ordained pastors and we license ministers pastors and ministers are the leadership of Sandals church these are the people that spiritually lead us that spiritually guide us and Shepherd us and teach us how to follow Christ so it's an amazing amazing service the next one we have I don't know probably next year sometime but don't miss it's powerful powerful times when God moves and God works and we don't do it publicly we don't invite everybody to it this is reserved for our church and the person that's being licensed or ordains friends and family members and it is powerful I remember when God dedicated me to Christ and people laid hands on me man it was amazing I was at my seminary graduation service and an old preacher man 85 years old lived his whole life could barely walk came up and laid hands on me with some other man and I'll never forget his words he said I've run my let my race it's now up to you the salvation of the world world depends upon you sharing the love of Jesus and I was like oh thanks for that one right but it was powerful it was amazing God's Spirit was just there so that's what happens they they put their hands on them and they say God what they're saying is God go with you and they're sending them out and what's so amazing about this it's this is like the most selfless act that any church has ever done in the history of the world can you imagine if the Apostle Paul was like our preacher like for example you know he wrote Romans I barely understand the book of Romans like he is a theologian I try not to be heretical can you imagine say hey come to sandals who's your pastor and they're like say whoever you're like we have Paul the Apostle like everybody's coming here everybody's gonna come here because when I preach I give a sermon when Paul preaches it's Scripture can you imagine and the church is saying no no the world needs you more than we do we're saved the world is lost and we're gonna send you to the world and so they sent them out now check out this next verse it says they went down to the Seaport of solution and then sailed to the island of Cyprus what's amazing is God doesn't tell them where they're gonna go God doesn't tell him what's gonna happen he just says you gotta go and so here's the issue man in the ancient world the people just understood that you're not gonna get all the information and when we follow God we want to know we're win how long what's it going to take and we get frustrated when God doesn't immediately answer us like we're like children right I mean children when they drive in the car whatever they want to know how long how much further you know how long and it's like I mean I get so irritated with our kids because they have entertainment systems when I was a kid in the 80s man you just suffered for Jesus in the backseat right any children of the 80s remember those cars I mean I didn't even get to face forward when I was a kid I was in the backseat of a station wagon staring at the cars that would crush us and kill us you know hi you know that's that's how it was I mean nowadays kids are strapped in like astronauts for their safety we were just thrown in the back of a truck and said hope you get there that's that's the way that it was but we want all this direction we want all this safety I got to know that God's gonna keep me safe I gotta go I gotta win where why and how the number one question asked in the Bible is this how long how much longer God and so they just go they just trust God and it's it's absolutely amazing they don't know exactly where they're going they don't know what's gonna take place they just know they've been sent out and so they're in the town of Lamas they went to the Jewish synagogue and they preach the Word of God now underline this this is so important John mark went with them as their assistant you say well why is that a big deal it's a big deal because most of you don't think it's a big deal you see most of you you think of well the pastor's role is important or maybe the ministers role is important but my job is not important my job greeting people my job welcoming people my job you know taking care of kids or praying with people in the service that's not the big deal like I'm helping the big deal and you fail to understand how important your role is so John Mark leaves with the Apostle Paul and Barnabus and he goes as an assistant and some of you don't even realize this but this guy who starts out as a secretary on a mission trip he begins taking notes he begins writing things down and one day he will write a book that's in your Bible called the Gospel according to Mark no job is too small just today when I was sitting in the greenroom as you guys were coming into church I watched one of the people in our church with the red shirts on with with a with a little you know will barrel wheeling kids into church and I thought wow how amazing is that that this person I mean think about those early memories when I went to church as a kid you got tortured nowadays you get personal service right and I just thought wow it's amazing those little kids could be the next pastor of sandals Church and here you are you think your job's not that important and they may hear about Jesus today and come to Christ because of your efforts you made the parking experience less miserable so I just want to say thank you so much to all of our servants all of our people who volunteer everybody who works you have no idea how important your role is you may be mark in somebody's life that helps bring somebody to Jesus and that's why it's so amazing so afterward they traveled to a town across the entire island until he finally reached Paphos where they met a Jewish sorcerer a false prophet Circle this name bar Jesus he's not Jesus he's bar Jesus now bar in Hebrew means son so Barnabas son of encouragement so it means son right when you go through your Bar Mitzvah you are a son under the Covenant and so it means a child of God he's a son of Jesus not Jesus Christ but the Hebrew word is Yeshua or Savior son of the Savior what's amazing is he is not he is not biblical at all he has abandoned his Jewish faith and he's become a sorcerer he's gone into magic and so here we have this individual who is not in any way representing God but he had attached himself to the governor Sergius Paulus now I just want to stop here and pause because many of you have friends that have attached themselves to you and they are leading you literally to hell they're advising you they're encouraging you some of you single people listen to me you're dating bar Jesus some of you are friends with bar Jesus some of you have family members who are bar Jesus and they are speaking to you every single day all don't go to church just find your own way just believe your own things don't believe that and they are whispering these words into your ears and you are listening to them and not God and let me tell you something the words of bar Jesus lead to hell the words of Jesus Christ lead to heaven and those are two different paths and so my question for you today is who has your ear some of you are struggling listening to my words which is just I don't understand that cuz I'm hilarious I don't I don't I don't understand why you can't listen to me well I'm kidding obviously because I'm the most humble person in the room you get that right okay got that it's a contradiction when you say that but some of you you know you can't listen you're distracted you're focused on something else why is that because something has your attention and listen to me this is why it's important whatever has your attention has you it has you so if you can't listen you can't focus just stop and pause and just pray to God it said God help me focus help me listen because what I'm about to say could change your life forever so as bar Jesus who had attached himself to the governor surges polishes who by the way underlined this was an intelligent man let me just say this not everybody who isn't a Christian is stupid a lot of times we make fun of and we put down people we say oh wow how ridiculous how can you look at the heavens how can you look at the stars how can you look at the moon and not believe it God okay listen you're not saved because you're smarter than everybody else you're saved because of God's grace and there are very very intelligent people in the world who aren't followers of Jesus and I think that there's a much better chance of them coming to Jesus if we don't call him stupid amen I don't know about you but when someone calls me stupid I'm not like oh I want to hang out with that guy for coffee okay I want to punch him in the face in the name of Jesus right so I'm a sinner and I need Jesus in my heart and in my fist okay no but nobody tweet that let's move on so here we are he doesn't want him to hear but he's an intelligent guy and so the governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him he wanted to hear the word of God but I'll miss which is also bar Jesus he had another name the sorcerer as his name means in Greek because in the ancient world everybody had multiple names interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Barnabas and Paul said he was trying to keep the governor from believing and let me just say this to you some people were encouraging you not to go to church not believe don't get in a small group don't serve don't get connected their motives are not pure their motives are evil they don't want you believing in something else they don't want you changing your life they don't want you to get healed they don't want you to be free from addiction they don't want you to be free from whatever sin that is in their life because that sin allows them control over you and they know that if you give your life to God and you surrender control to God they're gonna lose influence in your life and this guy bar Jesus doesn't want to lose influence so check this out Sall also known as paul also known as paul was filled with the holy spirit now before you cuss somebody out in the name of Jesus you need to make sure that you're full of the Holy Spirit and not yourself because this I don't recommend this unless God tells you to do this but he is full of the Holy Spirit underlying this he looked a sorcerer in the eye he didn't Facebook this he didn't put a passive-aggressive post on Instagram he didn't tweet this he looked at dude in the eye and he says remember his name is son of Jesus he says you son of the devil can you imagine how cool with that to be there I'd be like on the sidelines yeah what he said you son of the devil full of every sort of deceit you know what the root word in Greek for deceit is it's bait and that amazing that's where the word deceit comes from right when you go fishing you're being deceitful to the fish you're saying this is food this is food but whose food the fish that eats your bait and so what he's saying is you're baiting this guy you are full of every sort of deceit and fraud you are an enemy of all that is good will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord he says watch now for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you and you will be struck blind man right we always think of miracles as positive we never think of miracles as something negative right Jesus made blind people see the Apostle Paul made seeing people blind can you imagine how much giving would increase in our church if I could do that just strike a couple of you blind today may be awesome you you're also blind you're like how did you do that I don't know I don't know so he does it the man began groping around for someone to take his hand and to lead him when the governor saw what happened he became a believer check this out what why did he become a believer look at the next sign the next sentence because he was astonished not at the miracle but at the teaching about the Lord he wasn't convinced by the powerful act he was convinced by the power of Paul's words and you're like well that was 2,000 years ago that would never happen today a couple years ago there was a guy that visited our church and I was in the lobby and I met him I wish I would wrote his name down I didn't and I haven't seen him in years but he told me how he got saved because I asked him I asked people when your lobbyists say how long you been coming to sandals church are you a Christian how did you become safe and he told me his story of how I became a Christian it was the most powerful crazy story I've ever heard okay I said how'd you become a Christian he said well I was breaking into this lady's house that's not what you expect that's almost as shocking as I used to breastfeed you right that's like whoa I say wait wait wait you were breaking in if somebody says he said yeah we had cased this old lady's house in Moreno Valley for weeks I was like makes sense makes sense of tracking with you love everybody for Moreno Valley but makes sense right and so I said tell me about he says yeah we were convinced that this woman had been put in a rest home and that all of her video equipment and everything was just inside and so we broke in to steal her TV to steal her stereo and she had a bunch of cool stuff but we broke into the house and she wasn't in a rest home her car was we broke into her house and this old lady begins chasing us on her Walker I said well that's freaky he says no no that's not what was freaky as she was chasing me out of the house she screamed and she touched him freaked him out they ran out of the house left all the equipment we're in the car went home said what do we do and he said his other two friends that that was the freaky experience everybody said what are you gonna do he said I'm going to church tomorrow which all of you are like that's an amazing story until he's in your small group sharing yeah I was breaking into a house you're like this is your last week in group all she did was scream at him listen a little old lady on a walker in the name of Jesus and it scared him literally out of hell he came to church changed his life absolutely amazing so I don't recommend screaming at people you son of the devil but it worked for an old lady in Moreno Valley so write this down everyone is a believer every single one of you believe something you believe there's a god you believe religion is stupid everyone believes something's you know even the devil is a believer look at James James 2:19 it says even the devil and the demons believe they're believers now they don't believe the right things and many of you are believer but you don't believe the right things not everyone write this down believes in the truth some of you believe things that aren't the truth right do you know that 5% of Americans believe that Elvis isn't dead some of you like that's true that's true right he's dead he's dead not everyone believes in the truth so what do most people believe in you know what I found most people today write this down believe in themselves well you know what I always thought I just follow my heart I just think about it I assess the world and I make my own decisions well that's great but you know what the Bible says it says there's a path before each person circle this that seems right you've figured it out you've discovered it you've made sense of all the religions and you've figured out your own belief system there's a there's a path that seems right but where does it end up it says in the end it leads where it's a death to death so some of you guys you don't believe in God but you believe in yourselves and I hear people say it's all time well I just follow my heart yeah and then you end up in prison okay listen your heart is wicked and deceitful and it will cause you to do awful evil things so people believe in themselves next people believe outright lies outright lies one time I was trying to witness to a black friend of mine who's Muslim and you know what he told me he said I have converted to Islam because Christianity has excuse me because Islam has cared more about blacks than Christianity has not true not true the first missionary journey the very first missionary journey there were three guys that laid hands on the Apostle Paul one of them was whom Simeon the black guy from the very beginnings of the church people of all colors all races all nationalities all cultures came together under the banner of Christ now did the church lose that for a period of time was the church racist for a period of time absolutely but that's not how the church started that's how the church got perverted it's just not true by the way the greatest theologian of the first 400 years was a black guy by the name of Athanasius from Alexandria if you've ever prayed in the name of the Father in the name of the son and in the name of the Holy Spirit do you know why you pray that way because of a black guy from Alexandria named half an ASUS because he is the one you said Jesus Christ is God's son and his co equal with God and we are to worship and pray to Him as God and he would not back down when the church bishops from all over the world gathered together he alone stood for what the Bible said and you know what he lost and they threw him in prison and then a year later realized he was right and let him out of prison and said my bad my bad okay the church doesn't always get it right but he did sometimes they believe outright lies just because somebody says it or it's on the internet doesn't make it true next here's the most dangerous belief people believe in people who twist the truth you know the most dangerous lie is the one that's all most true there's a little truth in it so the Apostle Paul is preaching to this area called Cyprus in the Roman province it was called Galatia years later he wrote these words you are being fooled by those who circle this word deliberately twists the truth concerning who Christ and that's what happens well Jesus Christ is not God they twisted Jesus Christ is not the only way they twisted Jesus Christ is one of many prophets they twisted Jesus Christ was the Messiah but now there's somebody else Jesus Christ was the Prophet but now there's someone else and they twist the truth and they change it they acknowledge Jesus but they don't accept him for all that he is and they twist it and so we got to be careful next people need to know what God believes about them you see a lot of us we talk about what do you believe what do you think what's your opinion you know what the Bible is about the Bible is about what God's opinion is what does he think what does he believe what are his feelings and that's what we're here to tell you what God thinks what God feels people need to know what God believes about them number one write this down this is important all people are loved by God all people Muslims Hindus Buddhists atheists and praise Jesus even Christians are loved by God he loves us all listen to what the Bible says long ago the Lord said to Israel I have loved you my people with an everlasting love with an unfailing love I have drawn you to myself God is pursuing you God loves you God cares about you you matter to God and the problem is the world doesn't know this the world don't know they don't know that they matter they don't know that they're important this past week I was doing some honeydew's around the house some handyman projects any guys in here not handy I'm not handy and I'm not a man right I struggle and that's just a reality and so whenever I go to a hardware store there's going to be multiple trips involved so at first you go and you buy the wrong thing then you go back then you go to buy the right thing then you screw it up and you have to buy something else so it's a multiple step process for me and so last week same thing happened I was doing some money dues I was fixing some things I had to go to the hardware store four times four times and because God has a sense of humor I'd the same checkout clerk every single time the fourth time I go to the hardware store it's like the walk of shame I'm like yeah it's me again it's me again buying the same thing for the fourth time and she was really nice because we're in a relationship now because we've discussed things we've got to know each other we don't go Starbucks later but just like oh my gosh and so while she's sitting there trying to do some exchanges and figure out you know the rocket science it takes place to refund me my 16 cents or whatever it was I noticed that on her uniform she has a bunch of buttons and so I start reading all of her buttons and it's cool she had ten different buttons on her uniform but as I read them I got two about button six and then when I got to button ten I realized they all said the same thing every single button said this I am loved I am loved and so without thinking I go oh my gosh someone must really love you a lot who you all those buttons you know what she did she put her head down I don't know what it is about my face but people just tell me the truth like even bathrooms people look truthful it's bizarre you know what she told me she said I bought them all what what why would she buy ten different buttons that all say that she's loved you know the answer is she doesn't feel loved this week she's gonna get a card from me and I'm gonna go to a hardware store at one time and I'm gonna tell her that she is loved why is it that all of us struggles so deeply why is it that we all feel so deeply that something's wrong with us right ladies I love you but you cracked me up man my wife I I have three women in my house and they crack me up they do this thing called verbal tennis where they just complement each other back and forth you're beautiful you're amazing your dress looks good you look pretty well doves earrings and you're just like oh my gosh let's stop complimenting each other it's crazy right why is it that women constantly are telling each other how amazing they look you know why that is they don't feel amazing same thing guys right guys why are we always flexing and telling people to feel our arms check that sound have you seen this look at this ladies you want to know goes on in a men's locker room at a gym this is what's going on in there yeah oh yeah oh yeah it is bizarre behavior right some of you like I know I'm married to a man it's bizarre I don't understand yeah I saw your arms yesterday and the day before and the day after that yes it's your bicep thank you but guys why do we do this why are we all like check me out look at me oh yeah you look tough wow that's amazing because none of us feel like we're man enough why is that here's the answer we are all loved by God but we are all people are separated from God's love think about all the money all the energy we spend on giving people pep talks in America you're amazing you're talented you're beautiful be yourself think about all these words that we have to use to lift everybody up to tell everybody they're awesome think all the time energy money that's spent doing this and yet everybody's depressed everybody feels ugly and all guys feel like they're a wimp why because somewhere deep down inside we know there's a problem something's wrong listen what the Bible says all people are separated from God's love it says this includes you who were once far away from God you were his enemies what his enemies separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions right has anybody ever had a crazy evil thought anybody just me like you've been driving down the car and dad's you're like I could kill my whole family right now I'm bearing by that tree yesterday I took my son surfing we were surfing together and there was this little yappy kid little rich Orange County yappy kid and he kept yapping and my first thought was I'm gonna kill him and then I realized that's not what Jesus would do so I literally had this thought I'm gonna give my 10th son my son 10 bucks to punch him right because if I punch him I'm gonna go to jail but my son's a little guy and I could just intervene he didn't mean it he's a little crazy I don't know what happened yeah now don't judge me I didn't offer my son ten dollars but I thought about it for a long time right we all have crazy thoughts we all have evil thoughts and then even sometimes these thoughts are you know to the people that we love right some of you when you're talking your toddler you're thinking I could eat you right we are separated from God by our evil thoughts and actions yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body as a result he has brought you into his own presence ladies listen to these words guys listen and now because of Jesus you are holy and blameless let me give you a English word for that perfect and now you are perfect listeners as you stand for him without a single fault what's wrong with humanity we know something's wrong we know something is deeply wrong here's the reality only Jesus Christ can make it right Jesus this is our last point is the only way to experience the love of God he's the only way jesus said this I'm the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but by me it doesn't matter if you're Hindu last service I met with a young Hindu man he came running up to me he had a red shirt on he said I'm a follower of Jesus I said that's incredible we're gonna try to go to coffee this week I want to hear his story doesn't matter if you're Muslim we have people on our church you've converted from Islam to Christianity not because Christianity is better but because Christ is the only way it doesn't matter if you're Hindu Buddhist atheist or Christian Jesus Christ is the only way that you can be saved and the only way that you can be made right with God the world needs Jesus cuz nobody else could repair what we broke in Genesis 3 it's broken and because of that our love is broken our families are broken our hearts are broken our lives are broken what's the first thing Adam and Eve do when they sin in Genesis 3 you know what they do they hide from God and listen to this they hide from each other do you know before sin entered the world Adam and Eve were running around naked it was a naked party all the time it's like Spring Break Garden of Eden style right it's crazy crazy they eat the Apple and they sin and what happens they hide from God and they cover themselves from each other do you know why they were ashamed you know what God says to them who told you you were naked you know what he's saying who told you something's wrong with you sin told them and God wants to redeem what's broken in your life but the only way you can be healed is through faith in Jesus Christ here's what's amazing about God some of you you feel like you're pursuing God you're here at church you go I want to find out if God's real I want to find out if God's God's the way and you feel like you're investigating you feel like you're searching here's what's amazing about acts 13 acts 13 reveals to us that we are not the person that's hunting for God but God is hunting for us he is searching for you some of you today are lost daughters you are lost sons you are lost children of the king and he is pursuing you and you were separated from his love because of your sin and he wants to restore you to the right relationship that he's always meant for you to enjoy but the only way that can happen is by you repenting of your sins and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ here's what's amazing listen to this acts 13:48 and while the Gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the Word of God why because they found out what was wrong they found out how to be made right and it says as many as were appointed to eternal life believed some of you today have an appointment with God it's not an appointment you made it's an appointment he made I don't know if it's one or five or fifty but I know this some of you are here today by no accident just like I don't believe it was an accident that I went to the hardware store four different times to realize what was on her uniform it took me four times to see what God always saw she needs to know she's loved and she is and she is chosen by God whether this is your first time in sandals Church or your fourth time you may have an appointment with God who made you who you are separated from and you can be united with through faith in Jesus Christ now this is how we do this at sandals Church we love you as an individual and we want to meet you as an individual in this decision and so what that means is we're going to wait to the end of the service other people have things to do and you have an appointment with Jesus so at the end of the service we're going to people upfront we're not gonna put a spotlight on you we're not gonna make you stand up in front of anybody we want to talk to you we want to hear your story we want to understand how we can pray with you and how we can lead you to Christ and pray with you and so there's a few people up here at the very end of service don't leave here today if you know you have an appointment of Jesus Christ we'll wait for you but it's up it's up to you to come to him so let's close in prayer and let's just ask God to bless the remaining time in our service Heavenly Father I'm so thankful that you love us that you died for us on the cross and you've restored unto us God that we get to be believers in you Father help us today to get right with you no matter where we are no matter how far away we are god I pray that if we have an appointment with you that we would answer that call and we would come forward and give our lives to your son Jesus Christ so that we can be restored and experience the love that you have for us I pray for a spirit of boldness and courage as the Holy Spirit identifies those people who need to make the change today help them to know that they are loved and help them to know that they can be saved through Jesus your son we pray this in Christ's name Amen

Channel: Sandals Church

Views: 14,544

Rating: 4.847826 out of 5

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Id: RPzziZae33M

Length: 41min 13sec (2473 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 12 2016