Acts 12:1-25 "The Gospel Must Go On"

                Well, it’s been a while since, in the progression of Acts, someone was killed; at least someone who was part of the church and mentioned by name.  You might have even forgotten how volatile things between the Gentiles and Jews (mind you that these titles precede the now all-encompassing title of Christian that we saw last week) really were.  If you recall, over the past few Sundays we have been reminded of Peter’s ministry to and the subsequent indwelling of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles, those outside of national Israel.  I mentioned last Sunday that the text that was before us (chapter 11) really didn’t seem to make such a big deal about this newfound change.  Well, if you recall, I told you to hold that thought for a week and we would see that things were different.  You see, way back in Acts 7, immediately after his speech, Stephen, the newly ordained deacon, was stoned to death.  Why was he stoned to death?  Well, in essence, it was because he was preaching that Jesus’ sacrifice and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was for all those that believed in Jesus as the Messiah and that these promises weren’t just limited to the Jews.  This tension was still bubbling underneath the surface just waiting to come out.  For the most part, the Jewish leadership didn’t get too upset (to some extent) with the apostles and other followers of Jesus for proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah, as long as it was only to the Jews.  Don’t get me wrong, they still thought the apostles were wrong, but at least they weren’t being too blasphemous (whatever that means).  However, now that the promises of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are being claimed to be opened to the Gentiles, that is an entirely different matter altogether.

                Our text opens up by mentioning who is in power at the time, Herod.  More precisely, it is Herod Agrippa who is over Jerusalem at this point.  Now, we don’t really know a lot about this particular king other than the fact that he was a little crazy and he thrived off of the approval of his citizens.  It was his uncle, Herod Antipas, who is mentioned during the trial of Jesus and had John the Baptist beheaded (just a little history lesson for you).  And in Herod’s wanting to please the Jews, he decided, on the heels of this news of Gentiles being given the Holy Spirit, to arrest one of the apostles, James to be exact.  After having him arrested, he has him put to death by the sword rather unceremoniously.  Then, after seeing how much this pleased the people, he had Peter arrested and seemed rather on his way to a round two of sorts.  However, it was Passover time, and no blood could be shed during this time, so he had to wait. 

Meanwhile, Peter sat in prison while he and those outside of prison prayed for him.  Now, I want you to really pay attention to this notion of prayer, because it goes much deeper than saying a quick word to God about a particular situation.  You see, this wasn’t Peter’s first time in prison.  We’ve already seen two different accounts of Peter in prison thus far and we know that he rested in God to deliver him, which we will see how deep that rest runs in a moment.  But while Peter was praying inside the prison, the church was gathered outside of the prison praying together.  Well, they weren’t actually gathered right outside the prison, but they were in Mary, John Mark’s mother’s house.  This is, according to some Biblical scholars, the same place where Jesus gathered with his disciples the night before he was betrayed and delivered into the hands of the Romans.  They weren’t meeting in secret.  Had Herod wanted to find all of them and bring them in he could have.  They were simply gathered together for a time of prayer because that was how they responded to persecution and disaster within the church.  After all, one of their leaders was just put to death and another one was sitting in prison awaiting the same fate.

How great would it be if this was our reaction to persecution and hardship?  What if instead of forming a course of action, vision casting, or strategic planning, we just gathered together and prayed.  Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are times that call for action, but we should not and cannot treat prayer as a last resort.  The statements that speak of having no other place to go so you turned to God are ridiculous.  The first place that we should turn is to God because He is the only one who actually has the power to see us through whatever it is that we are dealing with.  The early church knew that; they gathered together for regular prayer, but this was something different.  Whenever there was any pressing issue taking place within the church itself or within the lives of those associated with the church, they would always gather together for a special time of prayer.

Now, I mentioned a second ago that Peter very much rested in God to deliver him.  Well, in fact, that’s exactly what Peter did; he rested.  He rested so much that he actually fell asleep.  Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t sleep well, especially if I have something running through my mind or something pressing the next day or in the next few days.  And even if by some miracle I am able to go to sleep, it’s a light sleep and I never get very much rest.  But that’s not what we find here with Peter; Peter was out.  And I don’t just mean sound asleep, I mean you could have played the drums in his ear and he might not have heard you.  We’re told that the angel that came to him shone a light in his cell and had to poke him just to get him to wake up.  The chains fell off of Peter as he stood up and he got dressed and began to follow the angel out of the prison.  As Peter was making his way past the guards, covered in his cloak, we’re told that Peter didn’t even know if what was happening was even real or if it was another vision.  It was almost as if Peter was still a little groggy and couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not.  However, Peter eventually woke up and realized that what was happening was indeed very real.

Peter realized that God had delivered him from prison.  And upon his more fuller awakening, Peter went to the place where the rest of the church was gathered together in prayer.  There was some confusion between Peter and this servant Rhoda and the Christians gathered there as to whether or not it was actually Peter knocking at the door, but eventually they got everything sorted out.  He told them of how God had delivered him from his situation and then charged them to go and tell the rest of the leaders of the church that he had been delivered from prison.  Now, I want to clear up one point of confusion that you might have right now.  When Peter told them to go tell, “James and the brothers” he wasn’t referring to the James that had just been killed.  Peter knew that James, John’s brother, one of the sons of Zebedee, one of the original twelve had been killed.  The James that Peter was referring to was Jesus’ brother who as we will see beginning at the Jerusalem Council became a leader in the church and also penned the Epistle of James that we find in our New Testament. 

But getting back to our text, we’re then told about a dispute of some sort between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon.  Now, we won’t go into the facts of what happened here (mainly in the interest of time), but we’ll skip down to verse 22:  “And the people were shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a man!’  Immediately an angel of the Lord struck [Herod] down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.”  Now, this eaten by worms part is just to put to rest any notion of Herod’s simply being rendered unconscious.  You see, Herod had put himself on the level with God.  He had put himself on a level that he felt was above (or at least equal to) anyone or anything that could be imagined.  In his pride, ultimately we see his destruction.

Now, I want to take just a moment and say a few things.  This text has often been used to point out two things:  the deliverance of God’s servant Peter from persecution, and the destruction of Herod, the oppressor and persecutor of the Lord’s people.  However, I don’t want us to forget about James, the apostle who was killed.  You see, he was a servant of the Lord just as Peter was, but he wasn’t delivered from his situation.  It’s a hard thing for us to accept, but sometimes, we’re not delivered.  Sometimes, we’re allowed to suffer, and it’s not just some character-building type of experience.  James wasn’t going through any type of character building so that he could learn something from it.  NO, James was put to death by an evil and wicked man, and that’s all there is to it.  Friends die.  Family suffers.  Bad things happen, even to the people of God.  Sometimes, it seems as if we could say that bad things happen, especially to the people of God.  We comfort ourselves with words like “One day we’ll all understand.  One day, we will know the reason or the plan behind our suffering.”  Well, maybe, maybe not.  I haven’t found anything in Scripture that tells me that we will be made fully aware of God’s plan.  In fact, from what I read, I’m quite certain that even in a glorified and heavenly state, I still won’t be able to fully understand and comprehend the entirety of God’s plan.

So, what’s the point in it all?  Listen really quickly to the words of verse 24.  “But the word of God increased and multiplied.”  You see, people die; even the people of God.  Sometimes, just as our brothers and sisters in Iraq can attest to, they die simply because they are people of God.  Indeed, bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.  Now, I realize that for some of you, you’re wondering how I got here from our text.  Well, let me sum it up this way.  James was good and bad happened to him.  Peter was good and good happened to him.  Herod was bad and good happened to him, but eventually bad happened to him.  So, in our text, two men found death.  However, their deaths could not have been more different.  For you see James death on this earth was the beginning of a new and eternal life, whereas Herod’s death was only a foretaste of the suffering that would become his eternal reality.  You wonder why I’ve spent so much time talking about going out and reaching out to those around us.  Well, it’s because for the one who is found in Jesus, death is merely the passage into a glory that we can’t even imagine.  Heaven is our eternal reward.  We don’t become Christians because it leads to a better life, a more successful and fruitful existence, or a higher quality of living.  Now, I could argue that it indeed does lead to these things, but that a discussion for another time.  The point is that the Christian faith isn’t about those things, but it is about God and our praise, worshiping, glorifying, and honoring Him for what He has done in providing for and saving of a fallen people.  I don’t want you to think that because you’re a Christian that life will just always be perfect for you because it won’t, at least not life upon this earth.  However, regardless of whatever hardships and struggles may befall us, we have to remain steadfast in our resolve to spread the gospel.  We must remain committed to seeing “the word of God increased and multiplied.”  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Evils of the Ice Bucket Challenge

Ok, so the title of this blog article is a little misleading.  I don't think that there is anything inherently evil with the ice bucket challenge (IBC).  In fact, it's been something that in many regards has been a great blessing to charity and non-profit organizations during this time of decreased giving.  The IBC has caused ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) research organizations to report record-breaking donations and it's not even the end of the third quarter.  No one can say that any campaign that causes folks to give record-breaking amounts of non-profits or research organizations is a bad things...or can they.

The IBC had been around for a few weeks; social media sites seemed like endless feeds of folks hoping on the bandwagon.  My wife was even one of those folks.  There were endless lists of celebrities, political figures, sports personas, sports teams, and even children accepted the IBC.  Then, there came the nay-sayers.  At first, it was what I like to call the "legitimate complainers".  These were the folks that had a moral (and in many cases biblical) complaint not with the IBC itself, but with the ALS research organizations.  You see, many of these organizations were using embryonic stem cells taken from aborted fetuses in order to find a cure for ALS.  I myself fall into this camp (hence why I probably give this school of thought more legitimacy than the group I will mention later).  I'm all for finding a cure and ending the horrible disease that is just as hard on those around someone diagnosed with ALS as it is the actual person who has it.  However, I am not a proponent of elected abortions.  I'm not in favor of a woman being able to have an abortion simply because she doesn't want to have the child.  I could get into a whole different discussion when it comes to health concerns, but this isn't the place for that and I just don't have the time.  However, what we ended up seeing was that people accepted the IBC, but instead of giving a donation to ALS research, they simply gave to some other institution.  Great!  As long as something charitable was coming out of this it was all good.

Then, after about another week, that's when it happened.  That's when sin (as I see it) really reared its ugly head.  People became tired of the IBC not because of the moral or biblical implications of ALS research, but because they simply got tired of seeing their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts littered with people pouring ice cold water on their heads.  It was as if people decided that what really mattered wasn't all the good that was being done, but that they wanted their Facebook news feeds back.

You know, sin is a funny thing.  It comes in the most subtle of ways.  Over the past few months, I've been preaching on how here in America, sin comes in the form of comfort:  comfort in our lifestyle, our friends, our surroundings.  We have become comfortable, and therefore we don't seek out the lost or seek the will of God as much because we're just trying not to rock the boat too hard.  It also comes in the form of envy, jealously, sloth, lust, and many other forms that we could keep on listing until our lungs gave out.  But as I sit in my office this morning, I'm reminded that the things that are glorifying to God's kingdom are always going to come under attack.  The things that are good and seek the best for God's children are constantly under fire.  It's like what C.S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity about the fact that Satan has nothing to do with something (or someone) that's evil and separated from God because they're already doing what he wants them to do.  It's the things that are being worked out for good that he tries to destroy.  

We are a fallen people who live in a fallen world.  Do I think that there are better uses for clean water than pouring on peoples' heads needlessly?   Absolutely; go ask any third world country (or California for that matter).  Do I think there are better organizations (morally and ethically) than those that use stem cells to try and cure diseases?  Absolutely; that's why we've donated to a different institution.  However, I'm all in favor of seeing things like this be spread across social media sites instead of whatever Miley Cyrus did at the MTV VMA's last night (although I have no clue if she was even there seeing as I didn't watch it).  There's times when we (as humanity as a whole) stumble into something good and seek good instead of evil.  This happens to be one of those times.  There's going to be people who seek to stop all things good, but we (as people and more importantly Christians) have to simply keep our eyes on the cross and continue to strive forward, seeking the will of the Father.

Acts 11:1-30 "The First Christian Church"

                Several years ago, I was given a book to read by a fellow classmate of mine while I was in seminary.  I don’t remember what the title of the book was, what it was about, or who wrote it, but there is one fact that still sticks in my mind about that book.  You see, this particular book had a duplicate chapter in it.  Let me explain really quickly what I mean by this.  This book had a chapter that was almost an exact copy of the previous chapter.  The only difference between the two chapters was that the second one began with the statement, “I feel that the information that we discussed in the previous chapter is so vital to our understanding of this subject matter that we need to make sure that we really have a firm grasp before moving on.  With that being the case, the following is a reprint of the previous chapter.”  And then it went on to be the exact same text that I had just finish reading.

                Now there are two things about that book that as I think about it now really leaves me puzzled.  One, why didn’t the author just say at the end of the first chapter to reread it before moving on?  It seems like that would have been a much cheaper and more economical use of paper.  And two, obviously the reading of the same material twice wasn’t that impactful upon me in terms of the subject matter because I have spent all week trying to think of anything about that book besides the fact that it had a duplicate chapter without any luck whatsoever.

                You may be asking why I’m talking about a book with repetitious material as a means of introducing our text for today.  Well, if you were here last Sunday or if you have been reading along with us in Acts, then a good portion of the first half of our text for today should seem pretty familiar.  In fact, some of it is almost a verbatim copy of Peter’s vision and the following interaction with Cornelius and some other Gentiles that we saw last Sunday.  If you recall, we looked at Peter and his ministry amongst this group, and we saw that the Holy Spirit descended upon them.  We noted that this was something that took many of the Jews back since they thought that the gift of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of him was something only reserved for those who were among national Israel. 

Well, word got around about this event and when Peter finally made it back to Jerusalem, there were those who were among the Jews who were skeptical to say the least.  Peter was, as we’re told, criticized upon arriving back in Jerusalem.  “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them” people would say to him in a demeaning tone.  They couldn’t believe that Peter would violate their custom of not interacting with these people.  It was as if they were asking Peter, “How could you?”  But Peter tells them, “Brothers, it’s not like that.  You see, I received this vision from God and in my lack of understanding God even spoke out to me.  God told me that nothing that He has made is common.  And this didn’t happen just once, but three times.  And as soon as the third was finished, these three men showed up form Caesarea wanting me to go with them.  And the Holy Spirit was telling me and pushing me to go with them and to remember the words that God had just revealed to me and to not let their differences from myself become a roadblock for myself or them.”  Peter also goes on to say, “And these six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.”  In other words, Peter was saying, “Don’t just take my word for it, but ask those guys as well.  They’ll tell you that everything that I am saying to you is the truth.  They were right there with me.”  Now, we also know how serious the Jews took the accounts of witnesses.  In this day of no forensic evidence, the strongest case you could have for convincing someone that something either did or didn’t happen was the testimony of multiple, accountable witnesses.

The men could indeed confirm what Peter was saying.  They had seen Peter go to Cornelius.  They had heard the conversations there.  They had seen Peter preach to the Gentiles.  They had seen the Holy Spirit fall upon the Gentiles with their own eyes.  And after haring all of this, the men who were gathered there in Jerusalem “fell silent.  And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’”

So, there’s this very quick and seemingly very abrupt shift in thinking.  And it’s really kind of confusing when we first read over it.  Think about this for a second.  Ever since Abraham (really even before that), God has had his chosen people, the Hebrews.  We see all throughout the Old Testament from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (who is renamed Israel) and on through Moses and David, God has had His chosen people and they have been the nation of Israel.  Now, after several thousand years (1500 being the smallest estimate), the Jews just give up on all that and say, “Ok, those outside of national Israel are included too.”  Now, we know from accounts later on in Acts as well as Paul’s epistles (most notably Galatians), that this isn’t exactly the case.  However, our text doesn’t seem to (at least on the surface) address this new expansion of God’s indwelling of the Holy Spirit to include people outside of national Israel.

Then, towards the end of our text, there is something that seems so subtle to us if we just quickly read through Scripture, but it’s actually a turning point in the Christian faith.  In fact, it’s the beginning of Christianity (at least in terms of the title Christianity).  “And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.”  You see, this is the first time in all of Scripture that the term Christian is used to describe the followers of Jesus.  From this point forward, it’s not about Jew, Gentile, people of the Way or any other title.  That is, as far as God is concerned.  Sure, as I mentioned earlier, men will continue to divide themselves amongst different groups, but that’s from an earthly perspective.  We will see Jew/Gentile distinctions and faith/work distinctions throughout the rest of Scripture just as we see divisions today.  Today we see a Protestant/Catholic distinction.  We see distinctions amongst Protestants in the form of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, etc.  Why, we even see further distinctions between these groups.  Our own Presbyterian church is divided amongst EPC, PCA, OPC, PC(USA), ARP, etc.  Now, these divisions are there for a reason and I’m not trying to criticize this distinctions and I hope that’s not what you take from this examination.  I point out these distinctions to say that they are inventions of mankind, but that they don’t exist as far as the gospel is concerned.  As far as the gospel is concerned, there isn’t a different gospel for different groups (or at least there shouldn’t be).

When we observe the Lord’s Supper, you may or may not have noticed that I give an invitation to the table before reciting the words of the institute.  And in that invitation, I remind each and every one of us that the sacrifice that we are remembering is not one just for a particular group of believers, but for all Christians.  I don’t think that Jesus died just to save the Presbyterians.  That’s not what predestination means.  Despite what you may have heard, I view my Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Pentecostal brothers; you name it; I view them as just as much a part of the Church as I am.  We are all Christians.  Yes, our understanding and our belief in how all of this works together may differ, but it should never be something that limits us in terms of our communion with one another.  I can’t wait to get to heaven and be part of the Church there.  Not because I can’t wait to show all my other Christian friends how right I was in my Presbyterian understanding and interpretation, but to live simply as a Christian, and that being as far as it goes. 

You see, throughout Scripture, when a seismic change takes place, there is usually some type of new name associated with it.  Some examples are Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, and Saul to Paul.  Well, there’s a seismic shift that occurred within our text.  That seismic shift is the move, the change from Israel as God’s people to Christians (of the Church) as God’s people.  You see, this isn’t some new system, it’s simply a change.  John Calvin writes of this expansion of God’s people that “Jerusalem was the first fountain from which Christianity did flow.”  In other words, Israel was the Church, but now the Church is made up of all those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and have been baptized in His name.  Now, the Church become God’s people, the Church has become Israel.

Now, real quick, what does this mean for us?  Well, as we continue with the book of Acts and our look at the establishment of the early church, as we continue with this theme in which I’ve tried to challenge all of us to step outside of ourselves for the sake of the gospel, this text means a great deal to us.  It means that all of the dividing lines are gone.  We know from the past few Sundays (as well as really every other text in Scripture) that we need to take the gospel out into the world to those who haven’t heard it.  Well, this text frees us from the confines of denominational boundaries and lets us know that regardless of religious differences, the only thing that really matters is who you worship.  In other words, it’s not how you worship or govern but who you worship and are governed by; God the Father Almighty.  Those areas of comfort (or probably more likely areas of discomfort) that I’ve spoken of the past few Sundays are things that we blame for becoming roadblocks or dead ends in our evangelism.  Don’t allow any type of religious difference to become a roadblock in your evangelism.  Everyone is in need of the gospel.  All of those who adhere to the words of John 14:6 (I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me) are called Christians.  It’s not about an individual church congregation or denomination, but about the entirety of the kingdom.  Don’t go out in search of the growth of your own personal kingdom, for your own little comfort zone, but the growth of God’s kingdom all across the earth.  Because no matter how many ways we may want to think about this or look at it, everyone who professes Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is known by the name Christian above all other names.  And it’s not about which earthly understanding and interpretation is right and which one is wrong, but it’s about the One True God.  Go in search of all people regardless of where they may be, and go bearing the name Christian above all else.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Acts 9:32-10:48 "The Gospel is for Everyone"

                Well, there certainly is a lot to digest and take in within these verses.  What’s odd (at least a little bit) is that the primary figure in all of them is the apostle Peter.  You would think that on the heels of what we saw last week (the conversion of Paul) that we would be kicking off Paul’s apostolic ministry.  However, we find that for a little while (chapters 9-12) Luke’s focus is on the apostle Peter and his ministry.  If you recall, much of the first part of the Book of Acts contains references that indicate that Peter was “first among the apostles.”  Over the course of the next few weeks, we will see a changing of the guard so-to-speak from the “old” apostolic leadership to that of the “new” one with Paul at the helm.  Now, merely as speculation, I think that Luke gives us a glimpse into the lives of so many different people and apostolic regimes (if I can use such a title) because he wants readers to understand that sharing and spreading the gospel isn’t just for a handful of people, but for all believers.  It’s the same sentiment that we find today where so many Christian authors and pastors have to fight the mindset that evangelism and sharing the gospel is only for those called to ordained ministry or in some sort of paid ministry role.  Instead, it is the calling and mission of all those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

                However, for today our focus is upon Peter and the ministry that he had after his assisting Philip in Samaria that we saw a few weeks ago, and after his teaching and training of Paul that took place in Jerusalem.  Now one thing that we know about Peter that wasn’t necessarily true of all of the other disciples turned apostles was that he was very outwardly focused, he was a “go-type of person”.  He was always willing to leave the confines of Jerusalem and take the gospel message out into the world.  He wasn’t really one to go and focus on one specific area, but was willing to go wherever he was needed.  As a result, his fame (so-to-speak) never reached the level of someone like Paul, but his impact upon the world for the sake of the gospel was still great.

                In our text for today, we’re first told of him going to visit “the saints” (or we might could call them just simply church members or congregants) in Lydda.  We find in our text a story of Peter healing a man named Aeneas who had for the previous eight years been bedridden and paralyzed.  The people of Joppa, a town roughly 10 miles away from Lydda heard about what Peter had just done.  The people of Joppa had just suffered a great loss with the death of a woman named Tabitha (Dorcas in Greek).  She was a wonderfully charitable person and really a cornerstone and pillar of her community.  Hearing of what Peter had just done only a few miles down the road, some people sent for him and had him come to Joppa.  Once there, Peter prayed over her body and commanded her to rise and she did; she was raised from death and brought into life once again.  Now, it’s worth noting that back in Mark’s gospel (5:41), when Jesus commanded that Jairus’ daughter rise from the dead, the Aramaic words that Jesus spoke to her were “Tabitha cumi”, which in English means “little girl rise up.”  It’s startling that here Peter uses virtually the exact same phrase to bring life back into this woman.  We can’t look at this and think that it was just a coincidence.  Luke is drawing a very real link here between what Peter had just done and what Jesus had done prior to that, and that link is the Holy Spirit.  Remember that one of the keys to the book of Acts is the power of the Holy Spirit now working through all believers.  We even said when we started this look at Acts that some have titled this book “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”.  I have to imagine that Peter was pretty amazed, seeing as how he had never raised anyone from the dead before this moment, at what the Holy Spirit did through him.  We see the power of God working through him first in the healing of Aeneas, and now in the raising up of Tabitha from the dead.  The Holy Spirit is on full display in Peter’s ministry, and he knows that it isn’t a power that comes from himself.

                While Peter was still in Joppa, an angel of the Lord told a man named Cornelius to send men to find Peter and bring him to Caesarea where he was.  Meanwhile, Peter was given this vision that unfortunately we don’t have time to go into today, but ultimately he was taught that nothing that God has made should be called common.  This lesson will come to a fuller light in just a moment.  But after hearing Cornelius’ men tell him why they have come in search of him, Peter left with them the following morning and headed for Caesarea.  After they arrived, Peter finally met with Cornelius.  Cornelius told Peter that an angel (or as he put it “a man in bright clothing”) appeared to him and told him where to find Peter.  Then, Cornelius said to Peter, “Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”  Peter was given the floor to present the gospel to these people who were there.  Now, it’s worth noting that Cornelius and most likely some of his men were not Jews.  They were seekers and followers of God, but not believers in Jesus Christ either.  So, they’re outside of the Jewish circle (nationally speaking), but not considered people of the Way.  Cornelius and his men were, as they’re commonly called throughout the New Testament, Gentiles.

                Peter, in verses 34 through 43, gives a beautiful presentation of the gospel.  He used words and phrases like “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”  He speaks of Jesus going about “doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.”  Finally, that “all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”  Then, even as Peter was saying these things, we’re told that “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.”  We’re told that the Holy Spirit was falling upon both Jew and Gentile, much to the amazement of many of the Jews there that day.  The popular thought was that God’s love was something that everyone could enjoy, but the gift of the Holy Spirit was something that was reserved for the Jews, the people of Israel, God’s chosen people.

                Now, I don’t want to get too bogged down in some of this, and I realize that I have taken a very quick and in some aspects overly so approach to our text for today.  I’ve only barely even scratched the surface of what’s there, but my reason for doing so is that I’m afraid we might miss the forest because of the trees.  I don’t want us sitting down and analyzing each of these three accounts of Peter’s ministry (in addition to both his and Cornelius’ visions) and miss what’s happening here on a larger scale.  The account of Peter healing of Aeneas was in an area that was largely Jewish in religion, but mixed greatly in terms of nationality.  The same was true of both Joppa and Caesarea, the two other regions visited by Peter in our text.  This is emphasizing the point that the gospel isn’t just for a select group of people, but for all people, regardless of nationality or location.  Now, this doesn’t mean that everyone is going to hear and believe in an instant and it doesn’t mean that no one is outside of being saved, but it does call us to go to everyone, regardless of what we may think their stance with Christ might be.  So, we’re left ultimately asking what it all means when we look at the overall context of these narratives and how it relates to the overall story of Acts and thusly to us as the Church today.

                The past few Sundays, I’ve spoken ad nauseum about stepping outside of the area commonly referred to as our comfort zone; outside of those topics, people, places, and situations that give us comfort.  Well, as we’ve seen, there are great things that happen for God’s kingdom when we are willing to do this.  We’ve seen several Biblical examples of this from the lives of Philip, Ananias, and Paul.  Well, the accounts today about Peter give us a little deeper understanding as to the need to step outside of our comfort zones.  You see, if you have one of those Bibles that puts the words of God in red, then you can see that one of the two phrases in red are the words that God spoke to Peter in his vision when He said, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”  What God has made…  Well, we’re what God has made; He made us in His image.  You see there’s nothing common about us.  And that doesn’t just go for Christians; it doesn’t just go for Americans or any other nationality.  It goes for all people.

                As I mentioned a moment ago, the Jews that were there were shocked that the Holy Spirit would descend upon the Gentiles.  After all, they thought that the Holy Spirit was just for them.   Well, I don’t think that in our world today that we view things so narrowly in terms of the Holy Spirit or even the gospel as a whole for that matter.  However, the application of that view is another matter.  What I mean by that is that we would never say (or more accurately admit) that the gospel isn’t for certain people or places.  However, our actions and efforts in the field of spreading the gospel are confined to only a select group of people; most often, people who look just like us in one form or another.  We believe (rightfully) that the gospel is for our neighbor, but when we say neighbor, we most often mean the people just like us.  We don’t think that the gospel is for all people.  We discriminate based on skin color, nationality, location, or (dare I even say it) current religious faith.  You see, the gospel is for all people.  It’s for the non-Christian just as much as the Christian.  Notice that I didn’t say that it means as much in terms of its viewed importance to the non-Christian, but that the non-believer is just as much in need of it as the believer.  As I’ve challenged you to go outside of your own comfort zone over the past few weeks, you’ve probably realized how poor of a job many of us do at witnessing to those around us.  Well, it becomes increasingly difficult when we look to people that we have nothing in common with.  However, that doesn’t diminish the need for reaching out to these people.  I don’t possess the ability to witness to those of the Muslim faith, but that doesn’t make their need for the gospel any less; my inability to witness to them doesn’t relieve me of that burden placed on me by Christ.  When it comes to witnessing to these folks, that’s where I’m thankful for the efforts of those who are called to such a ministry.  But what I can do is pray for them.  I can seek out people in my own “mission field” to witness to and in turn get them to pray for them.  The important thing is that I (or any of us) never place a limit on the gospel.  That’s what the Jews did in this account with Peter and Cornelius, and that’s what many times we do without even realizing it.  The gospel is for all people, and it cannot be stopped, unless we stop it.  It doesn’t take much effort on behalf of Satan to stop the gospel when we allow ourselves to become comfortable in our own situations and stop witnessing to those around us.  Be an instrument of gospel progress, and not a roadblock or dead end.  Be someone like Peter, who sought for all to hear the gospel.  Don’t be like some of the Jews and this think that we are somehow we are the keepers of some gift that only we are worthy of, because I can promise you that we are no more worthy than anyone else of such a gracious and merciful gift.  The gospel is for everyone.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Ferguson, MO and the Impact Upon My Children

This afternoon, I was sitting at home with my youngest son Robert.  In between Mickey Mouse cartoons and his need to eat seemingly every time I walk through the kitchen, I managed to watch some of the news pertaining to the situation in Ferguson, MO.  I heard the state troop Captain Ronald Johnson's speech, and I must say that I was thoroughly impressed.  At first, I thought it might have been a little cliche.  You know, a racial situation and so a man similar to the folks involved is in charge.  However, very shortly into his speech, I realized that there was something different about this man.  Then, towards the end of his Q&A, he said something that put this entire situation into a whole new light for me.  The follow is a transcript that I pulled off of the internet of Johnson's speech (so I apologize if there are any inaccurate quotes, but it's the best I could do)

JOHNSON:  We know this isn't a perfect world.  You say you have a barbershop.  You know every barber isn't good. There's some bad barbers, okay?

CITIZENS: (chuckling)

JOHNSON: That's kind of the way of the world.  But I tell you what: When you go home and you see your kids tonight... When I got home last night, my daughter sent me this.  She says, "Daddy, were you scared?"  And I said, "Just a little bit.  And she said, "Dad, I want you to remember when Jesus asked Peter walk with him on the water," and she said, "When Peter got scared, Jesus picked him up and said, 'Have the faith.'"  And I'm telling you today: We need to be just like Peter, 'cause I know we're scared, and I know we falling, but he's gonna pick us up, and he's gonna pick this community up.

I have to admit that the pastor Christian inside of me almost wanted to stand up and praise this man as if he was the second coming of John the Baptist.  To think that during this most tenuous of times, that a man and his family would look to Christ (and him alone) gave me hope for this situation.  It also made me think about things completely differently.

I'll admit it, I'm a racist.  However, so are you.  When I look at someone, I see color.  I'm sorry, but when I'm describing someone to another person, I start with ethnicity.  It's the way I was raised, and it's the most obvious qualifier for people of my generation.  I thought to myself during Johnson's comments about the apostle Paul.  You see, Paul saw ethnicity and he saw backgrounds, but all that he really saw was people in need of Jesus.  He saw opportunities to proclaim the gospel.  It didn't matter if you were Jew or Gentile, Roman or under a different authority.  The bottom line is that Paul called all people to (as John's daughter put it, "Have the faith").

I see color.  I see black, white, Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern.  However, I also see the gospel.  I see everyone as one of two types of people:  you've either heard or you hadn't (if you don't know what I'm talking about by now, then ask me; I would LOVE to talk to you about it).

I grew up in Mississippi.  If you've ever spent any time there, then you know that that is enough said about my upbringing.  I have race ingrained in my mind as somewhat of a defining factor.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a discriminating factor, but it's still one I notice.  Several months ago, my daughter Ashby was in the back seat of my truck while I was at the gas station getting some gas.  A man pulled up and asked me for directions to an oil company.  He was just starting a job and had no idea where he was heading.  I told him where the company was located and sent him on his way.  After I got back in my truck, Ashby asked me, "Daddy, what did that black man want?"  It was at that moment that my impact about race began to sink in.  My daughter (who at the time was 4) already understood the difference between black and white.  It was as if the distinction of race was as important as the distinction between male and female.

In the aftermath of my own personal dilemma, I made a promise to myself:  I was never going to teach my kids about race.  I would be the proudest father in the world if my kids grew up not knowing the difference between races.  Instead, I choose to focus my efforts on helping my children grow up as seeing everyone as children of God.  I hope that my kids see everyone as someone in need the gospel, because that's who we all are.  We are all children of God, made in His image, and are in need of the saving grace that is found only in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I've got my personal opinions of Ferguson, MO and the events that have happened there.  I think that there is fault to be found on both side of the argument.  Law enforcement made mistakes.  The people of the community made mistakes.  Even the young man who was tragically (and needlessly) gunned down made a mistake.  However, for each and every one of them and all of us, there is forgiveness to be found.  And that forgiveness is what I want my children to take out into the world, and not the fact that race should be the dividing line.

Sin and Mental Illness in Light of the Passing of Robin Williams

I was sitting down at my computer in my office last night before a prayer meeting and checked Facebook real quick.  What I saw on the screen was a post that simply said “wish this one was a hoax” and then it had a picture of Robin Williams underneath the caption.  I clicked on the link quickly and read what happened.  I jumped over to other social media sites, only to see them filled with people paying their respects to and wishing condolences for the passing of this great comedian and actor.  After my meeting, I went home and helped my wife get our kids in bed.  Once they were asleep, we sat down and watched some television; me, Amy, and my mother-in-law (who is here helping us out during the first week of school).

I guess the news channels were feeling overly saturated on the various pockets of chaos in the Middle East, because every single one of them was running some type of special on Robin Williams.  We decided to watch one of them just to see some of the things that people were choosing to say about this man and his passing.  They pointed out his career highs.  They pointed out his awards.  They pointed out how many generations he had impacted with his work.  As a kid, I grew up watching Mork and Mindy reruns at my grandmother’s house as they replayed on Nick at Night.  On long car trips, one of the few movies that I used to watch on the small VHS TV we took with us was Mrs. Doubtfire.  When I was a teenager, Good Will Hunting was one of the most popular movies.  As I got older, I found myself coming to love movies like Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society.  As a parent, my kids (and wife) know almost every line that Robin Williams’ character Genie has in the movie Aladdin.  There was a part of me (like many other folks last night and this morning) who felt like they lost a member of their family.  I felt like somehow I had lost a distant uncle last night; one that had a pretty substantial impact upon my life and especially my childhood.

However, during the media coverage, they also pointed out his lows.  They pointed out his cocaine addiction during the 80’s.  They pointed out his sobriety and the strides that he had made in that regard.  They pointed out how he had been such an advocate for seeking help and was even in the midst of a sort of “maintenance” stent in rehabilitation.  They also spoke of his depression.  They spoke of the darkness that existed within him that sought his destruction, even though all most people saw was the happy and jovial outside persona.  This darkness within him, ultimately, is what would claim his life.

Now, Williams’ wasn’t an overly religious man.  He was raised as an Episcopalian in Chicago by a devout Christian father and a Christian Scientist mother.  Williams would often make jokes about religion, but always did acknowledge the existence of God.  Now, I don’t want to turn this into a religious discussion right now because that’s not what it should be.  This is a tragedy, a tragedy brought on by mental illness.  Mental illness is real and there is no point in saying that it isn’t.  Having close friends and family members who have struggled with mental illness, I know that sometimes it isn’t something that can just be overcome with more effort and more prayer.  I know that there are times when therapy, treatment, and medicine are needed.  However, I don’t think that a complete answer to overcoming mental illness can be found without prayer.  I think that many times it’s the right combination of treatment and faith that gives us the strength to overcome mental illness.

Now, I’m going to be kind of religious the rest of the way, so if you don’t want to go down that road then please stop reading and just remember the man that passed away last night for the brilliant genius (yes, I know that’s repetitive) that he was.  In Scripture, people who suffered from mental illness were seen as being possessed by some sort of demonic spirit (for example:  Mark 5:1-20).  We see that the power to overcome such spirit comes from God and God alone.  However, I don’t want to focus on the power to overcome it as much as I do the source of it.

If the source of mental illness in Jesus’ day was demonic possession, if it found it’s origins in Satan, then why can’t that be the case today too?  Well, the answer (I think) is that it still is the case.  The answer is that it is sin.  Mental illness is a result of sin.  Now I’m not saying that you did something bad and that God punished you with an illness.  That’s a foolish and inaccurate understanding of how God (and sin) works.  No, sin is a force that seeks to pull us away from God.  Sin is anything that seeks our destruction and separation from God.  Sin is a tool of Satan used to drive a wedge between us and our Creator to bring about our demise.

God gave Robin Williams a beautiful gift.  He gave him the gift of comedy.  It was a gift very similar to the likes of John Belushi and Chris Farley who went before him.  It was a gift similar to what men like Jim Carrey and Frank Caliendo still enjoy today.  There’s no denying that God gave these men (to various degrees) the ability to transform themselves into characters that could make us cry with laughter.  It truly is a beautiful thing.  However, the presence of sin seeks nothing but the destruction of the beautiful things of God.  It comes in the form of temptation, drug use, or even in the form of mental illness. 

Now all of this being said, when mental illness comes about in someone’s life, I’m a huge advocate of seeking help.  I’m a huge advocate of seeking professional attention.  I’m a huge advocate of getting the proper medication when it’s needed.  As a pastor, I’m often called on to counsel people who are going through emotional problems.  One of the great pieces of advice that I was given some time ago was to never try and work someone through a problem with mental illness when they need professional help.  It’s like trying to build a house when you don’t know how to, but you know what it’s supposed to look like.  It’s never going to work and the end result is going to be even more tragic than if you would have done nothing at all.

However (and this is where many won’t like this whole argument), I don’t think that one can truly overcome mental illness without God.  I think that medicines help.  I think that therapy helps.  I think that programs help, but I don’t think that they have the power to overcome it.  If God was the only one with the power to drive out this sin in the Old Testament, then how could that have changed today?  If God is the only one who has the power to forgive sins, then how could it be any different today?  The answer is that it can’t and it hasn’t.

If you know someone who is struggling with mental illness; get them help.  Get them serious and professional help.  However, don’t neglect the faith aspect of their health either.  It’s only when we have the balance proper treatment and the only One who has the power to overcome sin that we can truly hope to overcome mental illness.

Acts 9:1-31 "Even More Discomfort"

                Last Sunday, as we were gathered together here, we looked at a text that we said was the beginning of the more fuller fulfillment of Jesus’ command to the apostles before his ascension; the command to be his witness in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.  We looked at the Church finally beginning to be planted outside of the city of Jerusalem.  We looked specifically at the Deacon Philip’s evangelistic ministry in the region known as Samaria.  We took away from our time together that in order for us to do the most that we can for God’s kingdom, in order for us to bring about the greatest glory for God; we have to venture outside of our comfort zones.  That’s what Philip did in going to the different areas within Samaria, and that’s what we have to do in our own efforts today.  After all, the same command given by Jesus to his apostles still applies to us today.  We too are to take the message of the gospel throughout all the earth, even when that leads us to places, people, or situations that are outside of our comfort zone.

                Now there’s no doubt Philip was outside of that area where he felt personal comfort, but the stories of his discomfort pale in comparison to what we find in our text today.  Paul, at this time still known as Saul, was ravaging the Church.  He was going throughout the entire region “threatening and murdering” as they’re called, “the people of the Way.”  These were the followers of Christ, the ones who believed that Jesus indeed was the Messiah and the Son of God.  Saul even got permission to go into the synagogues in Damascus in search of these folks.  I mean, Saul was absolutely on the warpath for those who professed Jesus Christ as Lord.  He was going to single-handedly stop this entire Jesus problem that had plagued God’s people for so long.  At least that was his way of seeing things.

                However, somewhere along the road to Damascus, there was a sudden and bright flash of intense light from heaven.  Now, this is probably one of the better known scenes of the New Testament, and this is the point at which Jesus speaks out from heaven to Saul.  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?”  Now, we could go off in a whole different direction with this response, but let’s hold off on that for now.  Jesus answered him, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”  So Paul, with the help of the men who accompanied him, who also heard Jesus, went into Damascus and stayed there for three days.  He was blind, and he was so afraid and stunned that he didn’t eat or drink anything.

                Meanwhile, God called out to this man named Ananias to go to Paul.  He didn’t call an apostle.  He didn’t call one of the newly ordained Deacons that we’ve seen over the past few chapters.  God called this man referred to as a disciple, which literally means that he was a student of the way.  He was by all accounts an ordinary follower of Christ; similar to how many Christians would classify themselves today.  God told him to go to Damascus and to find a man from Tarsus named Saul and to lay his hand upon him.  However, Ananias wasn’t a fool.  You see, he had heard of Paul.  In fact, everyone had heard of Paul.  Everyone knew what kind of havoc this man named Saul was wreaking upon the Church.  During the midst of his protest, God told Ananias, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.  For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”  Now, we could take this even farther.  Not only was Paul to be the messenger of God before these people groups, but he was also to be the writer of a large portion of the New Testament and within his writings we find the basic principles for how we are to live in the light of Christ’s redeeming love and sacrifice.  However, I want to take one brief moment here and point out something that I think we can relate to today.  You see, God told this man named Ananias to go and then proceeded to tell him why he needed to go and why he shouldn’t be afraid.  But in reality, all God should have needed to say was “Go”.  It’s the same way with us.  When we feel God’s push, God’s call, all we should need is being told to “Go”, but we want so much more in terms of an explanation.  Don’t get me wrong, many times God gives us those explanations, but my point is that he should have to for us to be willing to go.

                As I said, Ananias went to Paul.  He found him, spoke to him, laid his hands upon him, and Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Paul’s blindness left him, the scales fell off of his eyes.  Paul rose up, got baptized, grabbed some food, and headed out the door.  Don’t you think that it had to be well outside of Ananias’ comfort zone to go to Paul?  As we saw earlier, Ananias, along with everyone else, knew both what Paul had been doing and what he was fully capable of.  Ananias was given the task of purposefully putting himself directly in contact with Paul in a manner than was completely waving Jesus Christ in Paul’s face.  Ananias wasn’t there on the Damascus road.  Sure, God may have told him what happened, but he didn’t witness these events for himself.  There had to be a little bit of fear within Ananias as he went in search of the one who was seeking the destruction of the Church.  However, he didn’t let his fear, his discomfort, stop him.  He went on and fulfilled the task that the Master had set before him.

                So, following our narrative, Paul is now a Christian.  He stayed in Damascus and actually was in communion with many followers of the Way for several days.  Once, again, I’m sure that all of them were well outside of their comfort zones being in such close proximity to someone whom they had heard to be so ruthless against Christians.  However, they all stepped outside of their comfort zone and ministered alongside Paul.  They taught him what they could and they pointed him along the right path to spiritual maturity (as best they could).  The result was that Paul was growing in his assurance and growing in his faith.  He was even confronted by some who had previously been his contemporaries and he tried to convert them.  Some of his former contemporaries even tried to have him killed, but he escaped.  All of this I’m sure was outside of Paul’s comfort zone, seeing as how he was used to being the one who was doing the chasing instead of the one being chased.  Ultimately, and we will later see this in a little more detail, through much of Paul’s efforts, the Church is flourishing.  Verse 31:  “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” 

                So to recap some of the major points from the past few weeks:  Philip stepped outside of his comfort zone and the church was grown in Samaria; Ananias (a regular believer) stepped outside his comfort zone and Paul was converted; these people who Paul had previously been chasing stepped outside their comfort zone and Paul increased greatly in faith and spiritual understanding; and Paul stepped outside his comfort zone and what he had known his entire life and took what he now knew to be true and went about endlessly proclaiming it.  So why do I keep talking about comfort zones and people stepping outside of them?

                The first thing is that yes, I am aware that I have used the term comfort zone almost incessantly over the past two weeks.   The reason why I keep saying this is because comfort is the primary barrier that prevents us from presenting the gospel to other people.  Think about it for a second, we talk to people every day.  We talk to people we know, we talk to people we don’t know, people at the grocery store, people at work; we talk to people all day long.  How many times do we talk about our faiths with them?  Well Tommy, you know that you never talk about politics or religion with someone, why?  Oh, that’s right, because it’s uncomfortable.  I closed last Sunday by asking the question, “Don’t you think that the greatest things that we could hope to accomplish for God’s kingdom lie outside of our comfort zone?”  I then said, “Maybe it’s time we find out.”  Well, how many of you actually found out this past week?  How many of us took that step outside of our comfort zone?  How many of us entered into that uncomfortable conversation about faith?  How many of us spoke to that person who we typically try and avoid?  How many of us reached out to someone or something when we really didn’t want to, but felt like we ought to?  How many of us actually had a conversation about the gospel?  Or did the message that we took from last week simply fall on deaf ear and fizzle by the time we had finished lunch?

                More opportunities are wasted for God’s kingdom each year because we “don’t want to” than for any other reason.  It’s not lack of opportunities, it’s lack of desire.  I know I’m not winning any friends with these words, but they have to be said.  Think of the table that sits in front of us this day.  Think of what it represents; think of what the elements represent.  They represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ broken and shed for us.  Do you think it was within Jesus’ comfort zone to be crucified?  Do you think that’s what he really wanted to do?  Of course not, Luke, the writer of Acts, earlier in his gospel records Jesus as saying just prior to his betrayal as he prayed to God, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done?” (22:42).  Jesus  didn’t want to die upon the cross.  He was willing, but there’s a far cry between willing and wanting.  I’m willing to do a lot of things that I don’t want to do.  However, it was the Father’s will that His Son die upon the cross.  It was the mission that the Father set before the Son to accomplish, and he did.

                And then there’s our mission, to take the gospel out into the world, to all the ends of the earth, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  That’s what God’s calling us to do.  We may not want to talk about our faiths with others.  We may not want to seek out that lost soul.  We may not want to get a little beat up trying to proclaim the saving grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we must be willing.  Think of where you would be if it those who came before you only did what they wanted and not what they were willing to do; if that friend never witnessed to you, if that parent or Sunday School teacher never talked about the delicate matters of with you, if that moment where you were hitting bottom didn’t contain the lifeline of the gospel tossed ought by someone else.  Think about what could be accomplished if we finally started doing that which we are willing to do, and not just limiting ourselves to what we wanted to do.  Like I said last Sunday to close, maybe it’s time we find out.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Acts 8:1-40 "Following God's Call"

                It’s been said that the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.  Well, if that’s the case, then I guess I ought to admit something today so that I can begin to do something about it.  I am without a doubt a creature of habit; I don’t like change.  It’s true, and my sweet wife can tell you that it’s much more than just a preference, it’s more like an obsession.  I like getting up at the same time every morning.  I like having my morning routine.  I’m perfectly happy when my daily schedule is never interrupted in the least.  I eat the same thing for breakfast every day, the same thing for lunch, and it wouldn’t even bother me if I had the same thing for dinner every day.  Yes, I am someone who likes to keep things well within his comfort zone.  However, I know I’m not alone in this regard.  You see, many of us are creatures of habit.  Most of us have some sort of schedule that we adhere to with varying degrees of regularity.  Almost every single one of us in hear have a comfort zone of living that we try our hardest not to venture out of.  However, when we do venture outside of it is where our greatest moments of triumph and growth occur, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

                Why do I bring up my not wanting to change or our overall love for remaining within our comfort zones?  Well, because that’s where the Christian church has been thus far in its establishment.  Sure, we’ve seen stories of persecution and hardships, and we even saw the newly ordained Deacon Stephen get stoned to death last Sunday, but all of this took place within Jerusalem, a place comfortable to the church and her members.  Y’all know how people are, we can know every little detail about where we live, but somewhere unknown (even if it’s much smaller) gives us a sense of confusion, it takes us out of our comfort zone.  Despite all the hardships experienced by the church thus far, they were primarily operating within the city of Jerusalem, the place that many (if not all) of them considered home.

                If we look back to the final words of Jesus to his followers before his ascension, he told them that they would, “receive power when the Holy Spirit [had] come upon [them], and [they] would be [his] witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Well, we’ve seen Jerusalem, and now we’re going to see Judea, Samaria, and the end of the earth.  This is where the Church really begins to fulfill the mission given to them by Jesus just before he ascended.  However, it didn’t come about as a result of the Church’s deepening knowledge or spiritual growth.  They didn’t go out into different areas because of their desire to see the gospel spread.  NO!  They left Jerusalem and went out into Samaria because as we’re told in verse 1, “a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem.”  Saul, whom we said last Sunday would later become the Apostle Paul, was leading this persecution.  It’s funny; God was using Paul, even in his prior life as a persecutor of the Church to accomplish His will.  He was also using the hardships of persecution and exile in the life of the Jerusalem church to bring about a furthering of the gospel.  Doesn’t it always seem that God uses our struggles and our trials to either bring us closer to Him or to push us into bringing others to come to know His saving grace?

                Well, Luke, the author of this book, doesn’t just stop at telling us that the church was going throughout the world preaching, but he gives us a specific example of one who was going out to a specific region.  He tells us about a couple of events that happened during the evangelistic ministry of Philip.  One point of information for our understanding; the Philip that is represented here in this text is one of the newly ordained Deacons and not the apostle who accompanied Jesus during his earthly ministry.  As I mentioned earlier, due to increased persecution of the church within Jerusalem, followers of Christ were forced to leave the comfort of Jerusalem for different places, most of them going against their wishes.  However, remember the Old Testament prophet Jonah.  Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh and tried to run.  Eventually God’s calling of Jonah to Nineveh was too strong for Jonah to resist.  Once he got to Nineveh and actually delivered God’s message, the entire city of Nineveh repented.  Well, even though we’re not told specifically that Philip didn’t want to go to Samaria, we do know that pretty much the entire church would have preferred to have stayed in Jerusalem instead of going out into other regions.  But as we saw with Jonah, you don’t always have to be the most willing of witnesses to do great things for God.

                Not only did Philip have to go to Samaria when he would have rather stayed in Jerusalem, he ended up coming into contact with two folks that he probably didn’t really care about having much contact with in the first place, or at least people who he probably wouldn’t have sought out otherwise.  Now, we don’t have time to go into both of these accounts in depth, so I’ll just quickly skim the surface of Philip’s interactions with them.   The first person that he comes across is Simon the Magician.  Now, Simon was well-known in Samaria for the magic that he had been doing.  Some of the Samaritans even said of him that, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”  In other words, they thought that he was sent by God and that his power came from God.  However, we know from our text that that was not the case.  Now it’s possible that he could do magic, or the more apt term is probably sorcery.  He could have been empowered by Satan, even if empowered unbeknownst to Simon him.  There’s also the chance that he was simply performing magic tricks similar to that which we see today.  Either way, Simon heard Philip’s proclamations of the gospel and even converted and was baptized.  However, he went on later to ask if he could give silver in exchange for the Holy Spirit.  After Peter, who came to assist Philip, rebuked Simon, we do see sincere repentance on Simon’s behalf.  Let this serve as a reminder to all of us that when seeking out the lost, it’s not a one-time thing, but a continual process.

                The second person that Philip encountered during his time in Samaria is most commonly known as the Ethiopian Eunuch.  He goes to an area called Gaza after being told by an angel of the Lord to do so.  It’s not really that he would have had anything against this region, but with things going so well in Samaria, it wouldn’t surprise us to find Philip questioning God’s sending him away from there.  However, we don’t find any of that; he just goes.  Now, this man who Philip found was already a devout follower of God.  However, he was most likely a Jew and still followed the Jewish system of faith held by the religious leaders of Jerusalem at the time.  But Philip and this man begin a conversation and Philip is presented with a golden opportunity to present the gospel to him.  After hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, the Ethiopian eunuch professed that he wanted to be baptized (a sign that he now understood the gospel instead of simply adhering to the Pharisaic system of being counted among God’s people).  After he’s baptized, we’re told that the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away.

                Both of these accounts are about Philip going to some foreign place and meeting with some foreign person.  Yet in both accounts Philip was given the opportunity of presenting the gospel, and in both accounts it led to the conversion and baptism of a new believer in Jesus Christ.  In keeping with the theme that we began with, Philip was pushed outside of his comfort zone, and yet it led to great things.  Sometimes, God’s calling takes us to places that we don’t want to go, and calls us to deal with people we would rather not deal with.  Sometimes God allows us to go through difficult situations in order to both increase our faith and advance the kingdom here on earth.   Sometimes we’re called to leave our own comfort zones in order to fulfill God’s will.  For some of us, it may take the form of moving from “home” to an unknown place.  For some of us it may mean giving up some of the comforts of life that we’ve always enjoyed.  It may mean reaching outside of our own little group of friends to people that we don’t know and that we might have looked over in the past. 

                Friends, the bottom line is this:  the growth of the Church and the advancement of God’s kingdom aren’t always easy.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy what I do and I really enjoy talking with people about Christ, and I hope you could say the same thing.  It’s not like we’re always going to be asked to endure hardships in order for the gospel to be spread.  Many times, our efforts in growing the kingdom are actually quite enjoyable, but we cannot just confine ourselves to doing what we want to do or what feels comfortable.  There are times in all of our lives where we are called to step outside of our own areas of comfort and security for God’s kingdom.  One of the early church father, Tertullian, famously said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  In other words, many times it takes people who are willing to give up what they have in order to advance the gospel.  My sacrifice is easy; I’m called to give up the decision on where myself and my family live.  For others, it means giving up comforts of life.  For some, it means giving up their freedom.  And for some, the words of Tertullian are true, they’re called to give up their lives for the Church.  None of those being more evident or meaningful than the One who gave His life in order to establish the Church.  When we become more concerned with staying in our own comfort zone than with proclaiming God’s Word, we’re denying Christ.  I firmly believe that one of the tools that Satan uses most frequently to push us towards inactivity is that of comfort.  When things are going well for us, we are far less apt to change.  I think that’s why sometimes God was to push us so hard at times, to make sure we land outside of our own comfort zones. 

                Now, I don’t have time to go into this today, so let me just end by asking you to go with this question in mind.  Where have the greatest joys in your life come from?  The answers, more than likely, come from times when you stepped out of your comfort zone.  Taking a risk on that guy or girl and getting married; disturbing the household balance by having kids; taking a chance and going for that new job and leaving the security of what you know for what could be.  Now, all of these greatest joys have come from outside of our comfort zones as they existed at the time, and today we can’t imagine life without them.  So let me ask you, don’t you think that the greatest things that we can hope to accomplish for God kingdom lie outside of our comfort zones as well?  Maybe it’s time that we find out.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.