[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 23rd of April, 2017 - the first Sunday after Easter. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
The Apostle Luke wrote to Theophilus and told him of Jesus, and what happened after our Lord arose from the grave and later ascended into heaven. Luke recalled the final words Jesus said to His followers, and of how one was chosen to replace Judas as an apostle.
Then Luke recounted the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the 120 or so disciples who were together in one place and in one mind and spirit. There was a sound the Spirit made as He came down and touched each disciple, a sound loud enough to draw in many from the city, devout Jews who wanted to see what was going on. Even though these Jews came from all parts of the world, they could clearly understand everything the disciples said, as if they were speaking their own language.
The Jews couldn’t quite figure it all out, and some mocked that the disciples must be drunk on wine. So Peter stood up to set them straight. Listen to what happened next, as recorded by Luke in his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, from chapter 2 verse 14 and verses 22 through 32, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…
Then Luke recounted the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the 120 or so disciples who were together in one place and in one mind and spirit. There was a sound the Spirit made as He came down and touched each disciple, a sound loud enough to draw in many from the city, devout Jews who wanted to see what was going on. Even though these Jews came from all parts of the world, they could clearly understand everything the disciples said, as if they were speaking their own language.
The Jews couldn’t quite figure it all out, and some mocked that the disciples must be drunk on wine. So Peter stood up to set them straight. Listen to what happened next, as recorded by Luke in his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, from chapter 2 verse 14 and verses 22 through 32, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know — 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him:
‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."
--Acts 2:14, 22-32 (NKJV)
Let us pray… Father God, You gave us the wonderful gift of Your Holy Spirit the moment we accepted Your Son Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Your Spirit needs no words of any language to get Your point across. Speak to us now, Father, through Your Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might receive, understand, and obey Your message this morning. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
The minister was preoccupied with thoughts of how he was going to ask the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting for repairs to the church building. So he was a little annoyed to find out the regular organist was sick and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute. The substitute wanted to know what to play. "Here's a copy of the service," he said impatiently. "But, you'll have to think of something to play after I make an announcement about our finances."
During the service, the minister paused and said, "Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty - the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected and we need $4,000 more. Any of you who can pledge $100 or more, please stand up". At that very moment, the substitute organist played "The Star Spangled Banner". And that is how the substitute became the regular organist!
Sometimes even ministers fail to trust God to provide for our needs. It’s like we’re afraid to put our hope in the Lord, that somehow He will make things turn out right. Thank heavens for organists, though! I think all of us suffer from this failure to trust at one time or another. We forget where our true hope lies, and why.
I’m reminded of a little girl whose mother asked what the Sunday School lesson was about after church. “Don’t be scared, you’ll get your quilt”, she answered. Needless to say, the mother was quite puzzled by this response. Later in the afternoon, the preacher stopped by for tea so she asked him just what the Sunday School lesson had been that morning. He replied, “Be not afraid, thy Comforter is coming.”
I guess in a way Jesus is kind of like a quilt: He comforts us and protects us and keeps us warm. And oh, He is coming again, and He will make everything right. Jesus is our hope, in whom we can place all our trust.
Last year as we were planning for our first 5K run fundraiser for the Workshop of Davidson, as a committee trying something completely new, we thought that we’d be doing good to raise $5000. I challenged the committee to put our hope in the Lord and set a goal of $10,000, a goal we met and exceeded by a little, all with the help of God. This year I bumped that challenge up to $15,000. The Workshop has a need, and God will provide. We just have to keep trusting Him.
The Book of Acts records many of the Apostle Peter’s sermons, and our scripture reading centers on one. Jesus chose Peter to be His disciple. He and his brother Andrew were the first men approached by Jesus and invited to follow Him. Peter accepted that invitation and stayed by our Lord’s side - helping with His ministry, going where he was sent - for three years, right up until the night when Jesus was arrested and carried off. Even then, Peter followed and hung back in the shadows, afraid to admit that he had been with or even knew the Nazarene. So Peter was devastated when His Master was hauled off, beaten, executed and buried.
But then Jesus appeared to the Mary’s at the tomb, and later to ten of the eleven in the Upper Room, and later still to all eleven, and hope was restored. Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people! And although the Gospel accounts and the Apostles’ letters were all written and circulated while many of these 500 were still alive, no one ever refuted that Jesus rose from the grave and appeared before them in body! Not one person ever said this was a lie, this amazing news that Jesus lives!
On the day of Pentecost, Peter was not only filled with the Holy Spirit, but also with an intense fire to serve his risen Lord. This sermon is directed primarily to the Jews who came in to see what was happening. He spoke to them of King David, a figure they would be very familiar with, and of what David said of the coming Messiah, of Jesus. Then Peter went on to point out that David is dead and buried. Everyone knows the location where his remains can be found. This mortal David, knowing his own fate, still spoke of the one who would be raised up from the dead, whose soul would not be left in the place of the dead, whose flesh would not see corruption. David foresaw that the Messiah’s earthly body would not be left to rot in a grave but would be raised up to life again!
And then Peter exclaimed this to be Jesus, the Messiah, the One God raised up from the dead! He could make that claim because he, and hundreds of others, saw Jesus after His resurrection. He and all those others were eye-witnesses of the risen Lord!
The Book of Acts records other instances of Peter testifying to Jesus being the Messiah because of what he had seen with his own eyes, felt with his own hands, heard with his own ears. His sermons were all fiery and his stance strong and unshakeable. I can’t help but wonder if maybe his earlier denial of even knowing Jesus might have played a part in how passionate he was in his efforts to let others know all about his Lord and Master.
His passion for getting the truth out can also be seen in the letters he wrote, to be circulated to the far-flung churches throughout the world. We all need to hear his witness, his testimony, because really it is our own as well. Listen to what Peter says in his 1st letter, chapter 1, verses 3 through 9, from the Modern English Version…
The minister was preoccupied with thoughts of how he was going to ask the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting for repairs to the church building. So he was a little annoyed to find out the regular organist was sick and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute. The substitute wanted to know what to play. "Here's a copy of the service," he said impatiently. "But, you'll have to think of something to play after I make an announcement about our finances."
During the service, the minister paused and said, "Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty - the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected and we need $4,000 more. Any of you who can pledge $100 or more, please stand up". At that very moment, the substitute organist played "The Star Spangled Banner". And that is how the substitute became the regular organist!
Sometimes even ministers fail to trust God to provide for our needs. It’s like we’re afraid to put our hope in the Lord, that somehow He will make things turn out right. Thank heavens for organists, though! I think all of us suffer from this failure to trust at one time or another. We forget where our true hope lies, and why.
I’m reminded of a little girl whose mother asked what the Sunday School lesson was about after church. “Don’t be scared, you’ll get your quilt”, she answered. Needless to say, the mother was quite puzzled by this response. Later in the afternoon, the preacher stopped by for tea so she asked him just what the Sunday School lesson had been that morning. He replied, “Be not afraid, thy Comforter is coming.”
I guess in a way Jesus is kind of like a quilt: He comforts us and protects us and keeps us warm. And oh, He is coming again, and He will make everything right. Jesus is our hope, in whom we can place all our trust.
Last year as we were planning for our first 5K run fundraiser for the Workshop of Davidson, as a committee trying something completely new, we thought that we’d be doing good to raise $5000. I challenged the committee to put our hope in the Lord and set a goal of $10,000, a goal we met and exceeded by a little, all with the help of God. This year I bumped that challenge up to $15,000. The Workshop has a need, and God will provide. We just have to keep trusting Him.
The Book of Acts records many of the Apostle Peter’s sermons, and our scripture reading centers on one. Jesus chose Peter to be His disciple. He and his brother Andrew were the first men approached by Jesus and invited to follow Him. Peter accepted that invitation and stayed by our Lord’s side - helping with His ministry, going where he was sent - for three years, right up until the night when Jesus was arrested and carried off. Even then, Peter followed and hung back in the shadows, afraid to admit that he had been with or even knew the Nazarene. So Peter was devastated when His Master was hauled off, beaten, executed and buried.
But then Jesus appeared to the Mary’s at the tomb, and later to ten of the eleven in the Upper Room, and later still to all eleven, and hope was restored. Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people! And although the Gospel accounts and the Apostles’ letters were all written and circulated while many of these 500 were still alive, no one ever refuted that Jesus rose from the grave and appeared before them in body! Not one person ever said this was a lie, this amazing news that Jesus lives!
On the day of Pentecost, Peter was not only filled with the Holy Spirit, but also with an intense fire to serve his risen Lord. This sermon is directed primarily to the Jews who came in to see what was happening. He spoke to them of King David, a figure they would be very familiar with, and of what David said of the coming Messiah, of Jesus. Then Peter went on to point out that David is dead and buried. Everyone knows the location where his remains can be found. This mortal David, knowing his own fate, still spoke of the one who would be raised up from the dead, whose soul would not be left in the place of the dead, whose flesh would not see corruption. David foresaw that the Messiah’s earthly body would not be left to rot in a grave but would be raised up to life again!
And then Peter exclaimed this to be Jesus, the Messiah, the One God raised up from the dead! He could make that claim because he, and hundreds of others, saw Jesus after His resurrection. He and all those others were eye-witnesses of the risen Lord!
The Book of Acts records other instances of Peter testifying to Jesus being the Messiah because of what he had seen with his own eyes, felt with his own hands, heard with his own ears. His sermons were all fiery and his stance strong and unshakeable. I can’t help but wonder if maybe his earlier denial of even knowing Jesus might have played a part in how passionate he was in his efforts to let others know all about his Lord and Master.
His passion for getting the truth out can also be seen in the letters he wrote, to be circulated to the far-flung churches throughout the world. We all need to hear his witness, his testimony, because really it is our own as well. Listen to what Peter says in his 1st letter, chapter 1, verses 3 through 9, from the Modern English Version…
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that does not fade away, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now, if for a little while, you have had to suffer various trials, 7 in order that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tried by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom, having not seen, you love; and in whom, though you do not see Him now, you believe and you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 9 receiving as the result of your faith the salvation of your souls.
--1 Peter 1:3-9 (MEV)
God has given us a new birth through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! And that new birth is the basis of our hope, our living hope, because Christ Jesus lives!
And just as Peter noted how David said that the body of the Messiah would not be corrupted, Peter claims that our inheritance through Jesus’ resurrection is also incorruptible and undefiled. It’s an inheritance kept in heaven for us, protected by God Himself through our faith in our salvation. Even if we do have to endure trials and tribulations in this life, we can rejoice because of our sure knowledge of what is to come. And our faith will be strengthened and purified by the fires, to become more precious than gold. Our faith is witnessed to by the praise and glory and honor we give Jesus, who we love and follow even though we have never seen Him. We believe in Him without ever seeing His flesh, hearing His voice, or feeling His wounds. So we can rejoice, with unspeakable joy, full of glory. For our faith results in the salvation of our souls.
To this, Peter attests. To this, Peter witnesses. To our living hope, Peter testifies. He lived and walked with Jesus for three years and knew Him as his Master and friend. He saw Jesus beaten and hung on a cross to die. He saw the tomb where they laid His body, and then he saw that same tomb barren and empty! He witnessed the risen Jesus, and now shares that testimony to all the world!
Our Savior lives! This is our hope. This is our living hope! Jesus lives!
In the holy name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Master. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, You gave us the chance for rebirth, for new life, by resurrecting Your Son Jesus from the grave. By our belief and our faith, You promise us resurrection and eternal salvation, too. We know that even if we have to face trials while we live this life on earth, nothing here and now can compare to the blessing You have in store for us in heaven! Thank You so much, Father, for fulfilling all Your promises, and for raising our Lord Jesus from the dead.
Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You from our hearts, acknowledging our belief in Your Son Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Master, rededicating ourselves to His service, promising to repent of our disobedience and sin, seeking Your forgiveness, listening for Your voice…
Lord Jesus, because You still live, we have hope for a brighter tomorrow. We have assurance of salvation and eternal life with You and our Father God in heaven. We know that because He raised You from the dead, He will raise us and save us from eternal death, too, because we have that promise through Your great sacrifice. You are our living hope, Lord Jesus, and we praise Your holy name. Thank You, Jesus!
This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith. Amen.
And just as Peter noted how David said that the body of the Messiah would not be corrupted, Peter claims that our inheritance through Jesus’ resurrection is also incorruptible and undefiled. It’s an inheritance kept in heaven for us, protected by God Himself through our faith in our salvation. Even if we do have to endure trials and tribulations in this life, we can rejoice because of our sure knowledge of what is to come. And our faith will be strengthened and purified by the fires, to become more precious than gold. Our faith is witnessed to by the praise and glory and honor we give Jesus, who we love and follow even though we have never seen Him. We believe in Him without ever seeing His flesh, hearing His voice, or feeling His wounds. So we can rejoice, with unspeakable joy, full of glory. For our faith results in the salvation of our souls.
To this, Peter attests. To this, Peter witnesses. To our living hope, Peter testifies. He lived and walked with Jesus for three years and knew Him as his Master and friend. He saw Jesus beaten and hung on a cross to die. He saw the tomb where they laid His body, and then he saw that same tomb barren and empty! He witnessed the risen Jesus, and now shares that testimony to all the world!
Our Savior lives! This is our hope. This is our living hope! Jesus lives!
In the holy name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Master. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, You gave us the chance for rebirth, for new life, by resurrecting Your Son Jesus from the grave. By our belief and our faith, You promise us resurrection and eternal salvation, too. We know that even if we have to face trials while we live this life on earth, nothing here and now can compare to the blessing You have in store for us in heaven! Thank You so much, Father, for fulfilling all Your promises, and for raising our Lord Jesus from the dead.
Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You from our hearts, acknowledging our belief in Your Son Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Master, rededicating ourselves to His service, promising to repent of our disobedience and sin, seeking Your forgiveness, listening for Your voice…
Lord Jesus, because You still live, we have hope for a brighter tomorrow. We have assurance of salvation and eternal life with You and our Father God in heaven. We know that because He raised You from the dead, He will raise us and save us from eternal death, too, because we have that promise through Your great sacrifice. You are our living hope, Lord Jesus, and we praise Your holy name. Thank You, Jesus!
This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith. Amen.
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