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Acts 2:37-41 What Shall We Do?

Throughout history, man has come up with many different answers to the most important question in the universe. "How can I be right and righteous when I stand before my creator?" That is the question the crowd will ask Peter and the Apostles in Acts 2:37-41. After the Spirit came at Pentecost, Peter preached a sermon explaining what has happened and why it has happened. His message is that because Jesus is the Messiah, has risen from the grave, and is exalted at the right hand of the Father, He has poured out the Spirit in fulfillment of God’s promises. However, there is a troubling refrain repeated throughout Peter’s address to the Jewish pilgrims in Jerusalem. He continually reminds them, "you killed Him," and "you crucified Him."

As the Spirit convicts them of their sin, they come to realize their desperate and hopeless position. Finally understanding the most crucial problem of all humanity, the crowd cries out, "Brothers what shall we do?" How this question is answered will reverberate through all eternity. Sunday, we will look at how Peter, moved by the Spirit, answers this question. His answer (in v.38) is one of the most debated passages in Scripture as several different groups build whole theologies based upon it.

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Acts 2:22-36 The Witness Of King Jesus

The Spirit has been poured out on the disciples and the spectacle of their testimony has drawn an enormous crowd in Jerusalem. Peter stands to explain this to the crowd and gives a powerful gospel sermon. Last week we heard him explain that this is the fulfillment of Joel’s “last days” prophecy when the Spirit would be poured out on all God’s people. As we begin in v.22, Peter will now explain why this is happening. He will explain why the Spirit has been poured out on this Pentecost feast? His answer is simple – because Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Messiah who was crucified, raised from the dead, and is now enthroned at the right hand of the Father.

The coming of the Spirit is a witness to Jesus’ exaltation and his fulfilling the covenant promises of His people. The Spirit has come in testimony that Jesus is Lord and salvation is found in no other name. Likewise, the Spirit empowers those united with Christ to be His witnesses.

Acts 2:22-36 is one of the most masterful sermons in all of Scripture which presents the glories of the exalted Jesus, glorified and reigning upon the throne. Yet it is also one of the most pointed as Peter shows us the difference between how God the Father sees His messiah and how His people viewed Him. Peter leads His hearers to the main conclusion saying, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36) Sunday we will ask, “What have we done with this Jesus?”

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Acts 2:1-21 A New Era Dawns

As chapter 2 opens, we see the inauguration of a new era. The Spirit’s coming marks the fulfillment of God’s new covenant promise to indwell His people. Because Jesus has come, died to pay for sin, risen from the grave, and has been exalted to the right hand of the Father - God Himself has made his dwelling place within His people and by His Spirit, He makes us witnesses for His name. This incredible beginning of the church shows us that God is still advancing His kingdom in our world and He is faithful to His promises. Now - every single gospel-believer, from the least to the greatest, is imbued with power from on High. By the gospel, every Christian is a temple of the living God, born again to be His priests, His prophets, and His ambassadors as we bear witness to the gospel in the power of His Spirit.

Acts 1:12-26 Preparing To Be His Witnesses

The fledgling church waits in Jerusalem for the promise to be poured out. As they wait, they prepared themselves to be His witnesses so they would be ready when the time came.

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Acts 1:1-11 Jesus' Mission Continued...

In Acts, we will see the church stand against opposition and persecution, but Acts gives us a unique view of how the church moved from Jerusalem to the far reaches of the Roman empire. Acts shows us the church on mission. And Acts has no definitive ending. The last verse in the book shows Paul under house arrest in Rome, preaching unhindered to all that came to him. It is meant to be an unfinished story because it is also our story - it is our mission that continues today.

Through the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit will light (or reignite) our fire for evangelism and discipleship and we examine the work of Jesus - by the Holy Spirit - through the Apostles. They were given power to be His witnesses to the far reaches of the earth - and so are we today. Our study through Acts will be an examination of the foundation upon which the church was built and grew - but it will also be an examination of the beginnings of the mission that we are still called to today.

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1 Peter 5:1-5 To Christ's Under-Shepherds

Peter turns his attention to the responsibility of elders / pastors as he instructs the church in how we stand faithfully in a hostile world

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1 Peter 4:7-11 Standing Faithful, Standing Together

1 Peter has shown us how we stand faithfully for Christ in a hostile world. As Peter closes the main body of his letter in 4:7-11, he continues that instruction by showing us what faithfulness looks like toward one another. The world and the culture will always oppose the church of Jesus, and Peter has shown us what standing faithfully looks like in the face of that opposition. Now, in these verses, Peter turns our eyes inward as he shows us how we stand together. The only way the church faithfully endures the slander and opposition of the world, glorifying the name of Christ, and testifying to His gospel, is to do so together. So Peter shows us what the church must be toward one another as he counsels us to prepare ourselves for suffering. When Peter began the main body of his letter in 1:13 he said, "Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Here he closes this section showing that it is as a united body of believers that we engage in this preparation. Again, he calls us to be sober-minded for our prayers’ sake. He says that we must love one another and serve one another if we are to stand faithfully, giving a defense for the hope that is within us. Peter’s teaching in this section perfectly embodies our vision at FBC for making disciples and growing as disciples. We can only do so as we worship, connect, and serve. Our unity of love and service to one another is one of the most important aspects of growing in Christ, and it is absolutely essential in our calling to make disciples.

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1 Peter 4:1-6 Arm Yourselves For Suffering

What does it mean to arm yourself for suffering? That’s a catchy title for a sermon, but preparing to endure the disdain, slander, and persecution of the world doesn’t sound like a very fun activity. Yet, that is what Peter has been teaching us all through this letter. 1 Peter 4:1-6 shows us how we, as exiles and foreigners, are to prepare ourselves for the slander and opposition of a worldly culture. Just as a soldier prepares and trains before going into battle, Peter tells his readers to arm yourselves with the same perspective on suffering that Jesus had. And Peter doesn’t just give us the command and leave us to figure out the details. In these verses, he shows us what we are to arm our minds with so that we might stand faithful, choosing to live for Christ rather than sin against him by compromising with the world. As suffering for following the word of God becomes more and more prevalent in our own culture, there also comes an increasingly strong temptation to fit in, to compromise, or sacrifice biblical truth for the sake of expediency. It’s easy to say we would never do such things, but too often as we sit comfortably in the ease the Lord has given, our mentality becomes one of entitlement and self-protection. Instead of training and preparing ourselves, we become complacent and easily stumble over the smallest temptations. In this text, Peter shows us how to arm ourselves - how to train our minds in preparation for the persecution that Paul says inevitably comes to every person who desires to live a godly life (see 2 Timothy 3:12).

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1 Peter 3:18-22 The Suffering Servant's Victory

Peter encourages his suffering readers by pointing to the victory which Christ's suffering accomplished. They are already partakers in this victory though they are suffering in the world. He compares their life in this world to that of Noah to show that God delivers His people.

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