Why We Can Make A Difference: The Book of Acts, Message 56

hey church welcome my name's phillip i'm a pastor on the life group team thanks for joining us today next week is easter and we are excited we have some great service options available on all of our campuses you can find those at northcoastchurch.com and then following easter we have an amazing community service opportunity coming up that we're calling serve your city you can find more information for both easter and serve your city on our website in the meantime our next life group quarter starts right after easter and our sign ups are still open the purpose of a life group is to help us develop meaningful relationships and keep god's word at the center that's why we say that church happens in circles not in rows i don't want you to just take my word for it i want you to meet someone who just recently joined a group and to hear their experience check out this video joining a life group during covet was kind of we were a little bit on the fence just because meeting new people around such like a weird time but one of our people in our group actually got covered and we were able to bring them meals you know everyone our group brought the meals every day um so that was that was a really good like opportunity for our group to really come together just go for it i mean you don't it doesn't necessarily have to work out the first time and as you keep going to church and growing your community you kind of learn who you get along with and i would just say go for it and just kind of find your find your people the importance of staying connected can be seen now more than ever wherever life finds you we have a group for you options are available for online in person or a hybrid of both remember that connection is community connection is community connection is community we've learned and experienced that connection is community [Music] wow i love hearing how god moves and works in life groups if you're not yet in a group or maybe you've been in one before and you want to rejoin one now's the time maybe ask them what type of groups are available we have groups that meet online we have groups that meet in person we have groups that meet on all different nights of the week whether you're married you're single you have kids you're an empty nester whatever it is whatever station of life you are we have a group for you there's three ways you can sign up for a life group you can go to our website and go online and take a look at the groups available you can join us for one of our services in person and our team will be on each of our campuses to help you or you can call our offices during the week whatever way you choose we just want you to know that our team is here and we're ready to serve you and help you find the right group well we've got a great day ahead for you and everything you need for today's service can be found on our digital bulletin you can fill out a communication card you can find your sermon notes and you can donate and that digital bulletin can be found on our north coast church app and on our website now we're going to join our worship team as they help us set our hearts for what god has for us and our time together today [Music] [Applause] hello [Music] you are [Music] [Applause] victory [Music] [Applause] jesus can't live too far fighting for kingdom good [Applause] [Applause] knock down [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] victory [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh [Applause] [Music] knock down doors you [Music] is [Music] victory is yours [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] then came the morning that seal the promise your buried body began [Music] has no claim on [Music] began to breathe [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] jesus christ [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] jesus christ oh god you are [Applause] [Music] um [Applause] [Music] [Music] he's in your head isn't he and just to make sure that question was meant to show weakness not to get a serious response he ends it with a chuckle and from across the barracks a stirring glare is given in return see even amongst the best of the best the roman elite the praetorian guard there are lines you just don't cross and question a man's strength well you'll find you've gotten on thin ice our questioner jin stammers for a second and now tries to give advice be careful with that one he's a different type of sorcerer some of our best men have crumbled at his side watch your step and before he exits the barracks one more word of advice he'll stop and pause in the midst of a sunlight coming through an open door as a reminder your best weapons have no defense against strange new thoughts and ideas and with that he'll disappear our solitary figure who is left now takes off that helmet and sets it on a shelf loosens a purple cape that their regime alone is allowed to wear and hangs it on the hook displaying the winged insignia taking off a breastplate he will sit on the marble bench and those words he can't get out of his head strange new thoughts and ideas it's amazing how day after day shift after shift with this new inmate has started to change him with strange new thoughts and ideas everyone takes rotations everyone has different duties even amongst the elite of the roman guard but to be chained with this prisoner on house arrest is bringing let's bring a cancer to the roman empire everything we're about everything we've worked for our double honor our double pay to reach the highest ranks and the most elite force in all of ancient history and yet chained to this guy paul for two years as the best of the best make their different shifts and sit and hear his thoughts and ideas the world starts to go upside down surrender let's just talk about surrender for instance one of the dirtiest words in the roman empire it is that final act what you can do only after your army your power has been given the final death blow they felt the full force of rome and then you beg for surrender and yet after weeks of being next to paul surrender now becomes synonymous with freedom and purpose strange new thoughts and ideas it's a wonder then we close our series over a year in the book of acts which is two verses two verses that today are going to leave you and i begging for more and yet two verses that maybe are left a little vague on purpose two verses that are going to expose us to the rest of the new testament we'll get to that in just a second two verses the last book of acts turn with me if you aren't already there to chapter 28. for some of you it's a celebration for some of you finally we're done with the book of acts we're done hearing about the story the map we put up brandon let's do it for fun one more time the map that we always put up what happened in jerusalem what happened with three years of jesus matthew mark luke and john what transpired because of that across the roman empire what happened to town after town city after city as the news of this jesus started to spread we watched over 30 years covered in this book of acts of christianity over ten thousand miles traveled by those that spread out from jerusalem with this good news the gospel of jesus christ we've watched what's happened in port after port city after city island after islands when people encountered this good news of who this jesus was and yet we've also seen the opposition haven't we we've seen the imprisonment we've seen the beatings the mob attacks the riots we've seen the stonings of some the death of many because these are strange new ideas to a roman empire to say there is one god to say there is a new king so you have to understand this rocks everything in a first century world your roman gods are what protect every port every city every traveler your roman gods are what give you your health your roman gods are what give you your success your roman gods are what give you your pleasure your sexuality your entertainment your roman gods are what's the very essence of life to live the roman dream you're going to be blessed by the roman gods to want to live the roman dream dream you're going to seek the blessings of the roman gods and to in any way face cursing well it's because of roman gods and the story starts spreading all across the mediterranean the roman empire of a one true god that is not here to curse that is not here to punish that is not here to wield his power but is here to invite all to a relationship it shatters roman thought it shatters roman ideas and we end our book of acts 30 years 10 000 miles here in rome if you're just joining us it's a great time because you're going to hear about this story we're going to wrap it up you're going to hear about where we're going in the future join with me two verses that spring us into strange new thoughts and ideas we'll have to turn some pages today acts chapter 28 verse 30. it goes like this for two whole years paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of god and taught about the lord jesus christ does it you can't end the story did he get out did he get on trial did he get before caesar did he die we know he had to die some point in his life you just end the story with that two whole years now of course luke writing this the travel companion of paul well-known historian now biographer he knows what's happened he knows the end of the story he knows this part of paul's life only lasted two years so why not tell us the rest of the story why not tell us what paul did in the next four to five years after he was released from two years of house arrest why not tell us about the trial that took place or did it took place many say people all the way from jerusalem never sent someone up here to try paul why because they tried him in jerusalem they tried him in caesarea and they know they don't have any roman law that paul broke why are you going to try to send a delegate all the way up here at that type of cost expense of time and travel just to show up and go we don't have the case we just don't like his strange thoughts and ideas maybe he was tried maybe he did get a chance to speak if so we've seen him on trial at least five times we know what he would have said luke two verses for two years he was under house arrest boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of god and taught about the lord jesus does it as we jump in today we're going to find maybe this is more than enough answer for what our study is and what we need and yet it begs the question what happened there you put the pieces of the rest the new testament together you find out he's got visitors during these two years he's going to write letters the rest of the new testament and he's going to talk about luke and aristicus which we know are with them on this journey he's going to talk about visitors like john mark like timothy like tychicus he's going to talk about onesimus a runaway slave that's the great roman empire that somehow gets to his house dwelling paul leads him the lord finds he's an amazing man a brother in christ and sends them all the way back to a slave over philemon you heard of philemon if you've been around christianity for a while it's another book we'll get to that we know in this he's going to meet a guy named demas and he's going to be a visitor in this group we know also about epaphras comes from colisee and tells him about churches so in other letters we know he's got great men and women of faith that come in and out of this rented house at his own expense when he's chained to a palace guard we know he's going to write great books in these two years like ephesians philippians also philemon and colossians and this is where we stopped and said oh my gosh in these two years so much happens we almost need another series about it let's start the book of acts again no we're not starting the book of acts again but here's what we're doing we're doing all of this in our next series well i'll tell you what easter is coming up next week i'll tell you about a short little thing we're doing for three weeks but in a month we're starting this in a month we're going to do the entire new testament one book a week in a month we're going to give you everything you need to know about the new testament based on this we're gonna go in and say so what is galatians about so what is ephesians about so what is colossians about so what is philippians about so what is first and second thessalonians about so what is first and second timothy about so what is first and second corinthians about and you're gonna see how these all fit on one map we're gonna use the book of acts i know i'm getting inside i'm kind of a nerdy geeky guy when i get to this stuff we're gonna use the book of acts 30 years over 10 000 miles that we've been teaching over a year to become the mobile mobile mobile what's the thing you hang over kids bed i don't know it's been 19 years since we've done that you're going to hang this mobile sorry bear it's been 16 years we're going to have the book of acts as a mobile that every new testament book hangs on so you're going to have a year of studying a book of acts a series on every new testament book 30 week series something like that and you're going to walk away going i got it man i got it i got the new testament i see where all of this fits brilliantly and more importantly not historically but what does this do with me today where do i fit in with the ephesians the philippians the colossians where am i also struggling with being a follower of god with these strange new thoughts and ideas of surrender to a one true god and make him king when i'm plagued with the success of the ephesians and prosperity when i'm plagued with the sexuality of the corinthians when i'm plagued at times with my own prosperity of the philippians and is it for me is it for god's kingdom what am i supposed to do with generosity when i'm plagued at times with wanting to throw in the towel and give up on christianity because just not working thank you second timothy and we're going to take a look in a series i've given you the opportunity to go now that we got the entire outline of what happened in the actions after jesus how every new testament book hangs on this map hangs on this book and we're going to be able to own it and see it for today i just want to stop and ask the question on this why why before we close our study on the book of acts if you could sit with paul under house arrest he has to pay for his own home his own house it shows a couple things one he's a roman citizen he's not chained in a dungeon he hasn't been found guilty of anything yet so don't put a roman citizen chained in a dungeon secondly it shows the incredible favor that we've seen over the last 20 chapters of every roman official of every roman guard that paul has been with how much favor and trust he's earned with them he's allowed to be under house arrest for two years still chained to a guard he'll write about that in his other books still chains to someone and this great palace guard comes in on shifts and they sit with him and they have to listen to his prayers they have to listen to conversations with luke they have to listen to conversations with mark paul's not allowed to go out in the streets and preach but groups are allowed to come to his home and they sit there this greatest of all time elite force and these huge men that have taken decades just to reach this rank to get double honor and double pay are being rocked by jewish group and gentile group and mixed groups coming in and hearing about this jesus and they can't escape it it's part of them being on the clock and we'll read about that when we come to philippians i just want to sit next to paul on the other side of the roman guard and say can you just sum it all up for us we're doing a series 2000 years later for those people that around north county for those of you that are in our venues on our campuses today for others of you that are still watching from home and from so many of you that are watching beyond from north county international and here in the states are meeting together in homes and maybe with groups or individually paul can you just tell us why'd you do all this i know it's your love for jesus i know love for god i know he had a huge impact on changing your life and giving you grace and mercy but could you just sum up for our study today why did you go through all the beatings why did you go through the imprisonment and the whippings why did you go through being stoned and left for dead over here why'd you go through over 10 000 miles mainly of foot travel in your lifetime why because we'd like to close a series and and give our people your motives and paul says chris for you i'll do it in fact i'll write it down leave the book of acts and you don't need to leave something there because we're not coming back to it past romans keep going past first and second corinthians you're going to hit a galatians ephesians philippians colossians colossians chapter 1. you're going to pass corinthians you're going to pass galatians ephesians philippians colossians colossians chapter one four motives behind the mission in the book of acts four motives why did paul do what he did colossians and we'll get to it in our new study coming up is written from the two-year imprisonment in rome you don't need the map that was me turning around and in that in chapter one in this two years of house arrest in the roman empire in rome itself paul writes this book to a group of people a church in college say and in that he goes let me tell you why i do what i do four motives colossians chapter 1 verse 24 now i rejoice in what was suffered for you and i fill up my flesh what is still lacking in regards to christ's afflictions for the sake of his body which is the church i have become its servant circle highlight underline by the commission god gave me and the first thing he writes to the church here is look i know i'm suffering i know what i've been through you've seen it on the map you've read my story but let me tell you i rejoice that i get to suffer because it has worked out for you in my suffering i have had an impact on other people's lives no christians should ever want suffering and no one should ever love suffering for the point of suffering but as we talk so many times in the series sometimes we will get into dark places so our light can be seen even brighter sometimes we can be put in places that we never ventured to go like the island of malta just so an entire island of people can now hear about the good news and gospel never in our agenda never our hope of being there but look what god did because this was my dream and i had to go here or we were brought to this point and look who god impacted and paul writes that from the beginning all my sufferings all of my afflictions the very first of four motives this can't be about me you want to take on the motives of paul how can you and i live a christian life like this well we got to come to first of all this can't be about me last week hilkin did a great job of talking about how do we share our faith how do we share our faith uh this is really part two on it let me tell you why we should want to share our faith and then we can look at his message on how we share our faith and these two are going to go together brilliantly his is going to be brilliant mine's going to be somewhat goodly even the english gives it away this is going to be really goodly what is our motives why should i do something and first of all as we get into it i've got to come to a motive it's no longer about me it can't be about my christian dream i mean it can't be about my american dream we look at the life of paul and we realize man if it's about what is best for me what is most prosperous for me where can i get the best life possible the easiest life possible that's pretty much going to take me contrary to the christian life it's why jesus made it clear right up front there was no fine print he didn't let you get to level 9 of christianity then level 10 he's like now that you made it this far let me tell you what's in it from the very beginning he called the crowds to simply say you're going to have to pick up your cross and follow me you're going to have to deny yourself your hopes your dreams your life to follow me it's why paul will write in galatians 2 20 i've been crucified with christ i know i still live but it's christ living in me i had to put myself to death the very beginning the first motive if you want to follow this plan in christianity is simply this whole thing of this this can't be about me have you noticed the similarities in the last 30 years of watching paul the persecution the being brought before roman officials the court the trial being found guilty of nothing that he has done have you noticed the similarities there's almost a warning that luke writes in the book of acts the ways put it together when the people of jesus follow the way of jesus their story will start to look like his story when the people of jesus start to follow the way of jesus don't be surprised if your story starts to look like his story i think that's why we've got to be careful when we say man i'm a christian i want to live the christian life do you want to live christ's life can i remind you of the ending of that i mean we are entering easter week this is palm sunday this is a guy on this weekend that rides into jerusalem claiming three times this is where i give up my life i'll be honest with your church i always have and then you've always stayed with me even though i've been honest i want a christian life but i demand for it to be much better than christ my prayers give that away i want a christian life i just really demand i don't demand i ask god nicely in prayer constantly that he gives me a better life than he gave his son i want a christian life but i don't want to live like christ i want to be like christ as a good person loving people so that they can love me but i don't want the persecution i don't want the rejection you see where i'm going with we find someone from the very beginning who understood this can't be about me if i'm truly going to be a christ follower i have to accept whatever comes with it and in a lot of cases when we choose to be like christ our story will resemble his and yet paul says but i can rejoice because in those afflictions you happen in those afflictions you heard the gospel through all those persecutions the word of god was shown to so many different places so many different jailers so many different roman guards so many different inmates and then he picks up and he says this it was the commission god gave me to present to you the word of god in its fullness the mystery you may want to circle that word that has been kept hitting for ages and generations but has now been disclosed to the saints to them god has chosen to make known among the gentiles the glorious riches of this there it is again circle it mystery which is christ in you circle highlight underline the hope of glory four motives he's writing in that home imprisonment to the church let me remind you why i've done what i've done why we've studied what we've studied the last year first of all it wasn't about me i can't make it about me the moment i want what's best for chris it's going to derail me a lot of times from following christ i had to surrender me secondly i have great news to share he goes this is why i've been commissioned in its fullness to tell you this incredible mystery that god had kept known until now the incredible mystery that jews and gentiles will both share in this incredible mystery of christ in you there's your hope there's your glory christ in you there's your hope there's your glory man that's easy to teach wow that's difficult to be able to say what's your hope and dreams for this life i may get through a top 20 list before i get christ in me what's your hope for your family your marriage your life is it christ in you a fullness of christ a deeper walk with christ that's my hope and that's my glory this one's easy to teach this one's hard to sit down and go what are your hopes and dreams for the next 20 years where does christ in you christian christ ian truly fall and he goes this is great news now some of you may get hung up on that word mystery he uses a couple times you're like so what's the mystery i don't get the big mystery well that's because we have two thousand years of christianity a lot of this even if you've just come to church for the first time you may be hearing going i still don't get a big mystery understand first century though understand an ancient world understand almost every ancient civilization had something in common and that was a religion it's almost as if it's hardwired in every human being to believe in something outside of yourself it's not a rarity to find ancient civilizations that have religion almost all anthropology will show you here was their religious belief no matter how spread apart these cultures were no matter how far removed they were from each other no matter how far back we go in ancient times almost everyone believed in some sort of gods and goddesses some sort of other that was out there almost every ancient civilization had some understanding of you need to appease the god and ask favor for gods most of these ancient civilizations had some sort of sacrifice even child sacrifice for many of them you had to do something to appease the god you might have done something wrong you don't want to incur their anger and to get these god's favor i mean this is historic in almost every people group and almost every group has this understanding of our mortality we see human beings come and go we're mortal there are gods out there and you need to do something to win god's favor or or to get grant god's forgiveness this is across human history the mystery especially in the roman world that there is one god one creator god and his plan is to live in you understand greek and roman culture understand the gods and goddesses of the the greek times man these are gods that would toy with humans trifle with humans but that a god would ever be in a mere mortal ridiculous laughable and for jew and gentile for the jewish world this is a greater mystery god set the jews apart their chosen people god's people his redeemer his messiah will come from them not for everyone else for the jew we're set apart we're a holy nation and that christ would offer this for everybody mystery you see that word mystery biblically is just making known what has been known it's not a riddle it's not something hard that you have to decipher um okay let me give you a mystery uh my name is chris but my given name is christopher that's not too big of a mystery it's a little mystery you know what my middle name is earl christopher earl brown that's that's my full given name it gets uh somewhere in my family line there was a duke or something like that uh i don't have any proof of that but it makes for a good story christopher earl brown mystery salt biblically speaking mystery solved see see we have this idea of mystery as something that you you have to be sleuthful about you gotta have a magnifying glass some tweed hat it's gonna take hours to try to decipher who did what what where in what room with what candlestick see the mystery biblical is just saying here's what we didn't know now we know it mystery solved middle name is earl mystery solved this god came to live in humans all humans this is the mystery and paul says for this is my motive i've got great news to share as hilkin talked about last week man how great is your news to go this is what's changed in my marriage this is what's changed in my ego and pride still a ways to go on that this is what's changed in my mouth this is what changed in what i used to do on weekends this is what changed in the way i used to see females this is what's changing the way i used to view my property this is what's changed the way i used to view my finances and this is surrender and it is no longer a dirty word because someone finally did a death blow it's because of his death blow i now have freedom and all i had to do was give up all i had to do was tap out all i had to do was become his this is the mystery the great news for which i've traveled 30 years 10 000 miles city after city port after port island after island to share with people who don't know this is great news which brings us to number three we proclaim him admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect in christ third motive i have people to share it with i have people to share it with he goes let me tell you my motive was it can't be paul's life anymore if it's paul's life i'm staying in jerusalem he comes from a wealthy family in tarsus he had life set i had to abandon that life give up on it's all about me and realize man this is about christ in that then i realized what christ did in my life this is amazing news great news i need to share it there's a burden on my heart for that and then thirdly i've got people to share it with now for paul that people to share it with was who the roman empire this was a guy that was called to go global if you will at that time man i want to take this to the known world but let me tell you christian you've got people to share this with your world may be two people one person it may be 15 people it may be an office it may be a classroom it may be a neighborhood it may be a team you're coaching it may be a parents group that you meet with it may be a moms group it may be a single dad's group that you meet with you've got someone to share this with there are people in your life in your roman empire whatever circle that is for you that need this good news and you're the beholder of it and you're beholding far more than just great news because look at number four to this end i labor struggling with all of we can play okay campuses let's go come on i know tent in fall brick i know you got the taj mahal out there but still we're all playing on this one if you're playing at home you can do this to this end i labor struggling with all okay that was still weak rb come on you're in your alleyway you got your flat screens we're doing this together all together to this end i labor struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me fourth motive this can't be about me this can't be about me where have i seen that before well that's right that was our first motive the first mode if you see how this thing comes around it can't be about me what i want it can't be about my life it can't be putting me first my hope and glory is christ in me this is great news i've got people in my life to have to share with and i come back to it can't be about me but a little different doing this work of god now can't be about me accomplishing this work can't be about me the very power source that i need struggling with all of his energy which so powerfully works in me it's god's purpose that we're about and it's god's power that we do it with okay next week is easter i'm taking a deep dive into the holy spirit what's the deal with the ghost with holes in it and let's just talk about what that is but the very power source that is within us the very life of christ in us man if you thought jesus death on the cross did something for you wait until you understand there's a tomb that's empty wait until you understand what blows away all greek and roman thought would start spreading like a cancer across the roman empire eating up and chewing and devouring everything about gods and goddesses to no no no there is one true god one king he is not caesar and he wants to reside in you in you and paul says the work i've done it was 30 years 10 000 miles and paul says i didn't do that and he writes in those last two years in rome and if we asked him can you just give us your motives he writes down here's four of them i died to me it's the calling of christ i didn't come to jesus to bless my life i didn't come to give me someone to be married to i didn't come to jesus because i wanted to get wealthier i didn't come to jesus because i i needed our cancer fixed i came to jesus because i was done with me and i surrendered oh church i told you i'll pray for success i'll pray for finances i'll pray for illnesses but i'm not in this to use god i signed up at the very beginning that he would use me so whatever hand is dealt all right lord use this because i have a story to tell the great mystery there is one true god and it is for all people and i don't care what box someone puts you in i don't care how far you think you've gone it's for all people it's god in us my motive that's my hope that's my glory and i got people in my life that need to hear it and here's the beauty it's not about me i walk in this hope and glory and allow him to fill my life and splash off into those that i come into contact with you see there's two fundamental questions that are now answered when we in the book of acts number one who am i who am i this was probably the greatest struggle for chris between well whatever teenage years and definitely into about 23 24. who am i i know my personality i know what the crowd wanted me to be i know the role i play when i walk into a room but i had no clue who what i was really about who am i and the book of acts ends with the cross of jesus ends the cross of jesus and picks up the book of acts and says now let me tell you who you are you are the one he came to die for you are the one his life came to save and forgive and you are what the risen tomb now allowed that life to live in you are a son or daughter a prince or princess in the kingdom of god you have value not because of who you are but because of who's you are that's the great mystery that's the great good news no matter what role you played in the roman empire from slave to free from prisoner from those that were criminals that hung next to jesus on the cross to caesar himself there's a place in god's kingdom for you and yes it involves surrender and with that there's a new identity this question has been solved i know who chris is i know whose i am i know i'm a son of a living god i know i'm a prince in the kingdom of god i know i'm heir to the throne i know what my destiny is and therefore it solves question number two what do i do and now i know my purpose in this short lifespan that we have i know what my purpose is i i know what i'm supposed to do here at north coast and we don't get every question right we don't get every decision right but we know what our goal is we're here in north county and for all of you watching beyond we're here to teach the word of god in its fullness we're here to take if it needs to be 58 weeks in the book of acts simply to get it right simply to verse by verse do what paul said i will teach the word in its fullness i'm not going to skip over passages we're going to run right through this thing in hopes that it brings others to this great story and matures them in their faith but this is where you and i've got to stop and go but man that's a struggle we've seen the life of paul that's a hard person to be compared to brandon one more time with the map are we really going to do this this was always a struggle for me in church here's what paul did 30 years 10 000 miles look how many times he almost boys and girls boys and girls look look listen listen look look look at how many times he almost got killed look at how many times he was in prison look at the shipwreck look now he's before caesar go be like paul and i'm like can you lower the bar a little like can you talk to me about inmate number 37 that was on this ship that got shipwrecked i think that's the guy i identify with the guy that barely gets a name when it scrolls up in the credits and it just says inmate 37. are you really going to teach me about paul and peter and timothy and say that's what we're supposed to do and here's what i want to encourage you with as we look at these motives and we understand okay this is what i do this is looking at uh this is looking at michael jordan i mean this is looking at the greatest christian evangelist at all time this is looking at the greatest church planner of all time and saying go be like paul is like saying go be like michael jordan arguably but i don't even i say arguably for those of you basketball nuts out there that want to just argue with me but there's no argument greatest basketball player of all time all time all time and someone throws me a ball and says watch michael jordan i'm like that's that's my example well don't get caught up in how many rings he has don't get caught up in how many championships don't get caught up in how many all-star games how many all-star mvps how many season mvps how many scoring titles how many assists how many steals don't get caught up in the defense an offense that he was able to play on both sides of the court don't get caught up in the amazing stats but in the midst of it being encouraged by the game be inspired by how we play and go man that makes me want to remember the old sayings be like mike man that makes me want to go man i i'm gonna go out and shoot some hoop and we're all on the court some of us are trying to get down our drip some of us are dribbling left-handed some of us can cross over between legs others of us on the free throw lines and we're still shooting the ball granny style but we're all on the court don't get frustrated by seeing what paul did seeing the motives and then hearing a pastor go christian go be like paul and go you're not going to do this most of you will never be in this part of the land most of you will never leave maybe the city that you're in but right now in your circle there's a role you play on this team right now in your circle there's a well there's a game clock there's a game clock that's going on and right now we have the ball and your game clock is eternity we live forever people and for a short time we have the ball it's called the shot clock and for a for for a short time we're responsible for just what we do with the ball when it's in our hands i think that's why luke leaves the book of acts open because the holy spirit is writing through him he doesn't want a solid period on that or an exclamation point he doesn't talk about paul's release and what happened the next four to five years paul coming back and getting beheaded on the austin way i love that the book of acts is left open two reasons one there's a new testament yet to be gone through there's more studies for us to do this doesn't end anything but more importantly at the end of the book of acts the ball is now in our hand we're the next chapter we're the next chapter in the saga oh it just hit me i wish i was created enough to move this over and have a map of north county the united states to talk about those of you that are in kailua those of you at green oak ranch those of you that are in hillsboro those of you that are walking and watching in north coast yuba city are you kidding me those of you that are watching in milwaukee right now those of you that are watching out of the houston area and getting together right now oh i wish i had a map that just showed now is our map now is a hard time yeah his story ended and it ended open ending because the shot clock reset and now it's ours now we have the good news in our hand now we're supposed to be doing something with this oh christian you understand you can't plan your life to death because you don't die a christian who is planning their life their retirement their finances up to the point of death is an oxymoron we don't die our game clock never runs out we are eternal beings for a very short shot clock i know who i am and what i'm supposed to do and i've just watched michael jordan play the game and i'm not going to win those championships i'm not going to travel like that but i got somebody i got somebody that's why this is so important why we close the book of acts because there are two things we will never get in heaven number one our friends and family who don't know christ we'll never get that in heaven it's the part i wrestle with on the bible why does jesus have to be the only way why did he beg three times in the garden that there's another way for anyone to be saved if there's another religion out there then dad don't make me die on the cross and god said this is payment for all of mankind this is salvation for jew and gentile for the world i wrestle with that because that means there's people in my life good people that need this truth there's people that need to know as chris talked about last week how my life has changed this is my story and i'd love to share that with you and now i have the motivation because this life isn't about me i'm on a shot clock i've got great news to share i've got people in my life to share it with and it's god's spirit that's going to want me to do that because god wants you to reach your friends and family more than you do god wants to reach your co-workers more than you do it is his plan it is his purpose to do that so when we step out by faith it is his power that is going to make that happen and there's two things we won't get in heaven friends and family don't know christ we only have this shot clock to make sure we share that which brings us to number two another thing we won't get in heaven is another opportunity to share with them another opportunity to share with them if this ending to the book of acts is disappointing it's supposed to be i think it's left open because it's not over the ending's now on us now and our shot clock may expire and there may be another generation that picks up the ball i don't know how many of those are left but for now in this short brief time on earth we've got it we're the next chapter and we turn the last page in the book of acts and sitting in two years house arrest he writes a letter to the colossians i just want to remind you why i'm chained to these guards why they have to hear this story what the purpose was about my life was impacted by god an amazing way and i realized i can't make it about me i've been given this great news my hope my glory is more of christ in me and i got people to share that with so i'm not going to slow down i'm not going to let obstacles deter me i will let every beating every trial every health issue take me to some place i didn't plan on go just to share with that island whose i am and here's the beauty it's not about me i just put myself in a place where his power his energy his spirit does what he wants to do with me it's the book of acts that's not just his story that is now our story that is my story that is your story and this whole thing has been god's story what an invitation father may we be a people that pick up these motives that understand who we are and what we're supposed to do here may the top of our american dream become christ in me that's my greatest hope that's my greatest glory because for this 40 50 60 80 year shot clock i mean you find me useful on the court may the population of heaven forever be changed because of our faithfulness here and may you show us father god how to simply walk in obedience and what your spirit wants to change in us from the inside out may we bring people to hear your story may we come next week to easter and catch once again the purpose the mystery of god in us may we learn to walk in that fullness in jesus name amen wow i know that i was challenged and encouraged by today's message and i hope you wear the same remember you can donate and fill out your communication card online and if you haven't yet signed up for a life group i really want to encourage you to do it because it's so worth it thanks for joining us today hope to see you for easter next week

Channel: North Coast Church

Views: 7,381

Rating: 4.9000001 out of 5

Keywords: north coast church, larry osborne, pastor chris brown, north coast, churches near me, christian, bible study, jesus, god, bible

Id: FcM1E45d5fQ

Length: 53min 43sec (3223 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 27 2021