Changing Lives for Time and Eternity – “Who?” #5
Acts 1:8
(The Powerpoint can be found at http://www.hueytownbaptist.com/pastorspage/sermondownloads.html)
> Changing lives for time and eternity, “what a grand idea!” Yet it is not just an idea, it is a divine expectation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation, old things are passed away, all things are new.” This is a changed life. Then Jesus tells us that He is all about building His church. The way this is done is by the ‘changed life’ & the group He calls to do it is the church.
> For 5 weeks we have looked at this concept of “changing lives”. When reporters are trained to develop stories, they are taught 6 basic discovery questions: who, what, where, how, why, & when. We have answered 4 of these questions. Today, we get personal PERSONAL.
> Turn to Acts 1. (Read) Please notice the personal pronoun “you” is used 3 times in the one verse which contains our marching orders. YOU. But why you (me)? I am just a common person. Exactly who is it that has the call? (4)
1) The Person who has been REVIVED –
> What does the word revive mean? In the dictionary we’re told that it means to restore from the depressed state or brought back to life in consciousness, or to give new energy and life. We have meetings which we call a revival. The hope is that spiritually we will be brought back to life, be restored from a depressed state, & that will be given new spiritual energy.
> Here are 2 examples of the person who has been revived;
> The date was November 2, 2003, the congregation of the Hueytown Baptist Church had gathered for worship. In the crowd were three couples of interest. A man named J. T. Barger and his wife sat slightly in front of his son, Donald Ray and his wife. A younger couple, Eddie and Kelly Gordon, sat in an unusual place, one row behind J. T. and his wife. Kelly had previously known through CPR training. His brother Billy stood to preach Mr. J. T. slumped over In a heart attack. Seeing his dad slump over, Donald ray, who had just recovered from heart problems, jumped up to assist his father. When Donald ray jumped up, he was stricken with just pain and lay out on the floor. Meanwhile Kelly, saying the elder Barger slumped over, literally jumped the pew and proceeded to administer CPR. Brother Billy stopped preaching, dismissed the services, and the church began praying. Kelly continued the CPR until paramedics arrived. The way I know this is that I had only been Pastor at the church for about two weeks when Mr. Barger told me the paper clippings about the event. Without hesitation or reservation, he proclaimed, “Kelly saved my life. “
> When someone “saves” your life, you have no problem telling it.
> In John 11, there is also a story of a life being revived. It is the story of Lazarus. This young man had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This family was a friend with the lord Jesus. The chapter opens with a boy becoming sick. In fact, he was so sick his sisters were concerned about him surviving. The sisters became so concerned that they sent word to Jesus that his friend was sick & to please come quickly. The story has many facets that would require much time to sort out but suffice to say the Jesus waited two days before he began the journey to Bethany. During that time Lazarus died. By the time Jesus arrived the boy had been dead and buried for four days. The sisters said “Lord, if only you’d been here, you could have saved a brother. “ (This is another message for another time.) Getting to the crux of the story, Jesus said, “Show me where he is buried.” The sisters said, “he’s been dead for days and the stinks.” But Jesus offers a prayer, looks to the grave, and says, “Lazarus, come out.” And the most incredible thing began to happen. The corpse came to life. Then Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.” I wonder why Jesus had to say this. But here is the kicker. Look with me in the next chapter at verse 9. “Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus the one he had raised from the dead. Therefore the chief priest decided to also kill Lazarus, because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.”
> Here’s our truth: Lazarus never held an office like disciple, apostle, deacon, or Pastor; additionally, he never wrote anything or is there any record of him preaching sermon nor performing a miracle. Yet, many Jews were being brought to faith by his testimony.
> I don’t know what this says to you, but to me it is a clear call of God to those of us who have been revived from the death and darkness of sin, that we have a responsibility to be a part of the process of changing lives.
2) The Person who has been RECLAIMED – this concept of being reclaimed is an important concept. It means that you were indeed claimed at one time and in some way you lost your way. There’s no better chapter in the Bible for teaching us this than Luke 15. In fact, in this chapter we find much that has been lost and needs to be reclaimed. The chapter begins with a lost sheep, continues with a lost coin, and ends with a lost son.
> All three were loved and lost by the owner. Probably, because of the human element, the son was more appreciative than the coin or the sheep. He knew he didn’t deserve what the father was being him. He understood the depth of the sin. There was no doubt in his mind that his father was extending grace. Though we don’t know “the rest of the story”, I dare say that he always talked about how much his father loved him in spite of his rebellion. That type of love is difficult to get over.
> The person who understands that they are God’s creation and knows what god has done for them is a person who feels a freedom as well as the responsibility to say, “Jesus saved my life. “ To know the joy of being claimed by the father is to want to tell it. (recap) There is a third person.
3) The Person who has been RESTORED – To restore means to “bring back to its original condition, to bring into use something which has been unusable, or renewing someone.”
> When I look for a Biblical example of a restored person, my mind goes to John Mark. John Mark left with Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey. Truth is, considering how the Bible is divided by chapters John Mark didn’t even stay with Paul and Barnabas an entire chapter. Acts 13:4 is where the journey began and after one difficulty John Mark (Vs13) heads home. Now you need to understand that Paul, by his very spiritual gift, is a prophet.
> A prophet by their very nature is not a person who restores people. A prophet has such a heavy burden for truth, purity, and commitment. When John Mark returned home, in the mind of Paul, the boy was erased as ever being useful in God’s kingdom. Here is the very reason God has gifted us and put us together as a body; we need everyone. While Paul is the purveyor of truth, Barnabas is the purveyor of grace. You know the story, Paul and Barnabas actual parted company over the restoration of John Mark. Yet hear this, first if Barnabas had not been a restorer and encourager, Paul would have never been accepted into the church and Mark would have never been restored. All of this is good but don’t miss this: Barnabas restored both Paul and Mark to the Body. John Mark was so grateful and thankful that He lived in life in such a way that God appointed him one of the writing apostles. History suggests that Mark’s gospel was earliest of the gospels and yet contains a unique perspective on the life and teaching of Jesus. He often tells of Jesus’ ministry and miracles more than Matthew or Luke. Verse one sets up the attitude of Mark when he says, “this is the gospel (the goods news) of Jesus.”
4) The Person who has been REDEEMED – What does it mean to be “redeemed?” Can you recall the old “S & H Green stamps?”
> My mom used to get them, lick them, book them and use them. I used to LOVE going to the “redemption center”.
> May I give you the watts version of redemption? Taking something that is worth nothing and changing it into something of value. On a human level, this means taking a person who seems to be in a hopeless, helpless situation and redeeming them in productive ways. On a Biblical level, I can think of several examples; John 4 gives us the picture of the woman at the well. She is 4 times divorces and now is co-habituating with another man. He conscious is dulled to immorality and commitment and Jesus speaks words of life to her. How about the Woman caught in Adultery or Zacchaeus or a myriad of others. First, our Lord is in the redeeming business…but listen, the incredible part of His work is that He take us from being the redeemed to assisting the redeemer in the redemption process.
> What did the woman at the well do? She went and said, “Come see a man.?” What did the blind man say, “I only know that once I was blind, but now I see.”
> Please hear me; who are you? Have you been “revived?” Have you been “reclaimed?” Have you been “redeemed?” Have you been “restored?”
> There is a sad truth in the Baptist church today. We are more interested in our convenience than our calling, our likes that the lost, our constitution more than the commission, ourselves more than others. In fact, when we take an honest look at ourselves, the things that cause us to become upset probably doesn’t even register with God and the things which cause God to get upset don’t even register with us. He as revived, reclaimed, restored and redeemed us, & place a calling on us.
> Before we tonight’s message let us be reminded of 4mportant truths;
a. We can only change lives “if’ our life has been changed.
b. The church can only do what her members do.
c. The only way to fulfill God’s task for us as a body is to be about “changing lives”.
d. To change lives begins with “a changed life”. (a name, a person, an individual)
