Secrets of a Great Church Acts 2:37-42
Listen to this statement. “It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out.
A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms; just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction.” SOURCE: Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 162.
How does a church become defined as “great”?
One way a church can be defined as great is when that church is serious about Christ’ command to go into “all the world and preach the gospel”
No church can become truly great without fulfilling the great commission.
One of the key characteristics of a Great Church is a transformed membership, not just a bunch of people signing the dotted line.
Look at verse 41: What happened?
Now look at verse 47: Who did it? The LORD did it! How often? DAILY!
It was not accomplished by some membership campaign; it was of God and it was genuine!
We can triple our membership by simply signing people up for Sunday School but that does nothing for their eternity!
Salvation is about truly being born again! It’s not about making some verbal agreement with God or signing a commitment form.
I don’t want your signature on the dotted line…I want your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Let’s look at salvation from 2 major perspectives: God’s part & Man’s part.
1. God’s part in salvation: Look at v. 37:
You and I need to pray for genuine conviction…I can sell my wood crafts, my scrap metal and a lot of other things BUT I cannot sell someone on salvation any more than you can talk someone into being saved!
THERE MUST BE TRUE, HOLY SPIRIT LED, CONVICTION!
There is a 3 step process that I want to show you:
1. The Holy Spirit calls the sinner
Look at verse 39. This is why we must constantly ask God to show us the person He wants us to share His salvation with. God will set up circumstances in a person’s life in order to expose them to the truth.
I want you to understand that when everything just seems to work out that it’s not by accident or some coincidence… It is happening by divine appointment!
God put you in the presence of that person and He WILL tell you what to say…
IF YOU LET HIM… Too many think they know what God NEEDS to say…
Not only does the Holy Spirit call the sinner…but
2. The Holy Spirit convicts the sinner
Verse 37 tells us the people were “cut to the heart” [NKJV]
The absolute truth is that no one can be saved until they are convicted and realize that they are lost!
Why do you think so many churches see people walking the isle, only to have them disappear a few months later? Look at us! Is that what we’re experiencing? Where have all the people gone that walked these isles? When we talk someone into walking the Isle and shaking the preacher’s hand nothing happens…
No matter how great our message or how much our illustrations cause people to weep. No matter how touching and emotional our worship service may be, salvation based on mere human emotions is as useful as a screen door on a submarine.…
The Holy Spirit is the ONLY one who can bring true conviction!
So the Holy Spirit Calls and convicts the sinner… and third
3. The Holy Spirit convinces the sinner
Have you ever thought about what the invitation is about? Have you ever wondered why I get so vocal about walking in and out as soon as the invitation starts?
Here’s why I want it quiet in this place with no one slamming doors, on the way out. What we are asking people to believe is something unbelievable!
We are asking people to believe that a woman, who was never touched by a man gave birth to the son of God. This baby grew into a man who lived a perfect life, died on a cross but came back to life. We want them to believe that this Man, Jesus, went away on a cloud but is coming back on a white horse!
I’ll tell you the truth, when you put it like that it’s a wonder we EVER convince anyone to believe.
BUT that’s the whole point, we DON’T…the Holy Spirit DOES!
He not only calls and convicts them of their need, but then He convinces them of the truth!
That’s God’s part in salvation…He takes the initiative, He makes the first move, then the He puts the ball in our court!
When we read the book of Genesis we see that when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they didn’t go looking for God, He came looking for them! “Adam, where art thou?”
Today the ball is in your court… what are you going to do with it?
That’s salvation from God’s side. Now let’s look at salvation from the human side. What is your part in salvation?
1. Repent: Look at verse 38.
The first thing God says to you/me is repent. Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 13:3…unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
Repentance is a change of mind which leads to a change of action. (discuss my problem with Today’s salvation) New Apostolic movement we dealt with in Kenya.
Illustration with “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” the cross before me, the world behind…I don’t care what you may think or say of me!
I may get laughed at and I’m taking this too far but how far is too far!?
We must change our mind about sin
[Prodigal son “came to his senses”, then he decided to leave the hog pen and go home]
Are you following me!? Am I getting through to you?
You can’t live in the hog pen and be a child of God!
Come to your senses and get out of that hog wallow called sin!
This notion today that you can get saved and it not result in a change in your lifestyle is foreign to the Bible!
II Cor. 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all (not some but ALL)things are become new.”
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I worry about people who claim to be saved, yet have never changed their mind about sin! Were they just looking for fire insurance? If so their policy will be terminated!
They may have gotten their name on a church roll, but is it in the Lamb’s book of life?
Adrian Rogers: “if nothing happened to you AFTER you walked the aisle to get saved, then nothing happened to you WHEN you walked the aisle to get saved!”
It’s a change in attitude toward sin.
Now I’m not saying a Christian becomes sinless, but we should lose our taste for sin! Falling in a mud hole is no excuse for wallowing in it!
Not only do we need to change our mind about sin but…
We need to change our mind about the Savior
v. 36 tells us that we must realize who He is, He’s your Messiah!
What you determine about Jesus Christ, TODAY, will determine where you spend eternity.
Do you believe Jesus is Who He claimed to be? Do you believe He did what the Bible says He did? Is He your only hope for heaven or are you trying to get there under your own power?
Repent…
After Peter said repent he said be baptized…
What a shame that some try to take this verse and twist it to mean that baptism saves people!!
Nowhere in Scripture will you find that Baptism is for salvation or in order to be saved. How many times have you heard me say that we must interpret scripture with scripture and in the proper context?
The word “for” in the greek does not mean, “in order to” but “on the grounds of”…or Because of
In Luke 11:32, the men of Nineveh … repented at the preaching of Jonah…
[in other words because of!]
*What do you think I would mean if I were to say, “He was arrested for stealing?”
Was he arrested in order to steal? No, because he already stole…
He was arrested because he stole.
Eph 2:8-9 NKJV “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” You were saved because of grace and nothing you could do…
Baptism does not cause salvation…it confirms salvation!
Can I ask you something? Have you been born again? Have you been genuinely saved?…If so, have you followed the Lord in baptism?
*Evangelist Jess Henley tells of his 27 year old granddaughter who had spots found on her liver. She went in for surgery and the surgeon came out afterwards with tears in his eyes saying, there’s nothing we can do…she has maybe 6 months to live. She had 2 small children but during that 6 month period she wrote a letter to her family and here’s just a piece of it. “Don’t worry about me…when I heard I didn’t have long to live, I got alone, on my knees and I examined myself to make sure I’m saved, going to heaven, don’t worry about me!”
Let me ask you something. What does your salvation consist of? Did you get baptized thinking that would be good enough? If so all you got was wet. Did you join the church hoping that would get you a “get out of hell free card”? This is not a monopoly game… this is real… life or death… heaven or hell…
What you have may be good enough to live by while you’re out having a good time…but, is it good enough to die by?
What if you found out that your life would end Wednesday 10am?
Would you reexamine your life… would you reexamine your salvation?
Don’t you think that you should reexamine right now, before it’s too late?
