Post by John on Jul 23, 2012 22:40:20 GMT -5
Saffron Walden Baptist Church
CLUSTER SERVICE JULY 22nd 2012,
Sermon by John Maddams based on ACTS 3 verse 1 - chapter 4 verse 21
[glow=red,2,300]IN THE NAME OF JESUS [/glow]
The Reading chosen for us this afternoon is
ACTS chapter 3 verse 1-10, verse 16 AND chapter 4 verse 6-10 and 13.
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon.
2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"
5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him
Verse 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
Chapter 4 v
6 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family.
7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed,
10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed
verse 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
220 years ago William Carey, was constrained by the love of God to persuade fellow Baptists to the found the Baptist Missionary Society, through which since, God has transformed worldwide, millions of lives.
Before it was founded, William declared in a famous sermon
EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD
ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD
to which he later could add that we
ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS WITH GOD
These 3 key phrases run through the verses read to us and through the rest of the passage to Chapter 4 verse 20 and through the message I bring you.
During the American Civil war citizens of one Nation were hopelessly divided, and at the siege of Fredericksberg
The Union forces were defending against a Confederate attack and in the battle many soldiers of both sides were killed and injured
The battle raged through the night and the following day and many injured cried out for help and for water
Richard Kirkland a Christian on the Confederate side could bear their cries no longer, he had tried to ignore them, he tried to stick just to doing his duty, in the end he stopped firing and asked his commanding officer
“General, I can't stand this. Those poor souls out there have been praying for water all night and all day, and it is more than I can bear. I ask permission to carry water to them”.
He was told it was madness, he would be shot instantly by one side or the other.
He persisted and finally his commander gave in, expecting him to be instantly killed. He was provided with a supply of water, and exercising faith he ventured out.
His own side stopped firing, as he moved amongst the wounded men, of both sides, moistening parched lips, allowing some to drink what they wanted, straightening out crumpled limbs, putting heads on haversacks , covering people with their blankets or great coats and as he did so the Union soldiers stopped firing too and everybody watched.
For 90 minutes he made a significant difference
His faith in action led to that brief truce, and it brought hope to wounded men and it bought time and respect,
It demonstrated love and it built reconciliation.
He expected God's help. He attempted to do what Jesus would do. He achieved it for his were the hands of Jesus on that occasion.
That true story is a parable of what we have to do for the people of our day who cry out for solutions, for meaning, for purpose, for help in time of need, for proof of God
This passage is a very important one, of an incident right at the beginning of the Christian Church
It was the first test of the authority of the Church
How to deal with an opportunity and it's consequences
and Peter and John had been there before
They had watched Jesus, and he had also sent them forth , the 12 and again later the 70 disciples, and they had seen how people were healed and transformed by God through the Name of Jesus of Nazareth
Here it started privately from a conversation by Peter and John with a man who was begging, who had been crippled from birth, a situation humanly impossible to change.
Here it resulted in this crippled man being completely healed because of their faith and his faith, in the
Name of Jesus of Nazareth
Because of this act of faith Peter finished up preaching to a huge crowd resulting in thousands, including 5000 men, trusting in Jesus and it challenged
the authorities who ruled the people
who all became greatly disturbed
This led
to the arrest of Peter and John
to their appearing before the rulers of the people
to their authority being questioned
A wonderful opportunity to speak up for Jesus.
Peter had challenged the crowds
Why does this surprise you?
Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
The God of our Fathers has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over to be killed
you disowned him, you killed the author of life
but God raised him from the dead
We are witnesses of this
3 times in chapters 3 and 4 come the words
In The Name of Jesus Christ
1. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth - WALK
2. It is the Name of Jesus Christ, and faith that comes through him, that has given this man his complete healing
3. It is by the Name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified but whom God raised from the Dead that this man stands before you healed
The rulers, conferred and decided to nip this dangerous movement in the bud so they warned Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus
But Peter and John replied “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God?
For we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard” We know what God can do.
They expected God's help. They attempted to do what Jesus would do. They achieved it for they were the hands of Jesus on that occasion.
Since then, Rulers, Dictators, Popes, Priests, Governments, Atheist Scientists, and others accorded a little authority have tried to silence God from speaking through his witnesses
have tried to ban, burn, and shut up His word the Bible
have tried to disprove and ridicule God's existence
all to feather their own nests
protect their own backs
and retain their own power over other people
but our answer to them all remains as ever the same
“We know what God can do”.
When we exercise faith in Jesus and ask God to do things in the Name of Jesus, the repercussions can be far reaching.
We all face problems we do not know the solutions too.
Often we are not sure what to do or indeed whether to do anything
Sometimes we take some convincing before we act.
We have to expect God to help us
We have to attempt to co-operate with GOD.
We will that way achieve what God wants us to do
The most important factor in all this is Jesus Christ.
Without His grace towards us we are doomed.
Without his power correcting our weakness we are defeated.
Without Him we cannot do anything of real significance.
In the 1960's a young man name of SAM became a Christian in India and began to preach in a number of village churches.
As he went out preaching he walked past several villages to reach his destinations, where there were no churches.
So in faith he obtained and gave out Tracts and Gospels as he passed by. There are churches there now because God did the rest.
To reach more villages he bought a Bike and one day he found a mission publishing a Bible Study Book. He felt constrained to obtain copies of it for people he knew. 10
He had no money but he went and talked to them They did a deal. He swapped his bike for 250 books and walked several miles home balancing some on his head and dragging the others in a sack.
With several friends SAM organised a Tent Mission in a very strict Hindu area. Despite that,they believed the Lord would convert many people and so they prayed.
2 days passed and no one came. On the 3rd day 2 boys - brothers, arrived. That was all. So they preached to 2 boys, and one that day gave his life to Jesus.
The boy disappeared. No one else showed up.
They all went home disappointed.
Several years later the boy turned up again, now a trained minister and evangelist, and joined their mission and God has used him since to bring thousands to Jesus.
Because of the faith of that young man SAM 43 years later there has grown a Mission with over 650 churches in 5 Asian countries, a Bible School that has trained over 500 pastors and has 40 in training at the moment. A Secondary school for orphans. Open Air missions, a regular Radio and TV ministry, a website, a monthly magazine published in 14 languages, read by over 300,000 people and thousands enrolled in Bible Study courses.
Multitudes of people have had their lives changed because of SAM's faith
He expected God's help.
He attempted to do what Jesus would do.
He achieved it for Jesus enabled him
That could have been you or me, and still could be.
Never give up praying and believing.
And if you are too busy to pray, then you are in truth, too busy
It is recorded that Jesus said “When 2 or 3 of you ask in my name I will do it
But you may say we have prayed and prayed and nothing has happened.
For our prayers to be answered they have to be asked in confident faith in the Authority and in the Power of the Name of Jesus and that means us accepting that we ask according to God's Will It is his Sovereignty that matters more than our desire. He knows best
If what we ask is GODS WILL He will do it To answer our prayers God may have to change lots of people and that takes time.
Sometimes we have to wait a long time for an answer
because to fulfil our prayer the LORD has to untie a lot of people and their problems
I became a Christian on Sept 15th 1954 and I prayed that my Dad would become a Christian too.
Of my experience he told Mum. “Don't worry. The boy has caught religious mania. It will wear off. Give it a fortnight and he will be back to normal”
He was a bit perplexed to discover the contagion was endemic 57 years later it has not worn off yet.
He became a Christian himself in August 1965, nearly 11 years later and after much praying
In the early days of Gold Street Chapel in Saffron Walden, a Mr J W REED joined them He was a carter who used to organise the clearing of the snow from the streets in winter to have all the snow in the Common by 9am so businesses could get on with their work.
Before becoming a Christian he could not read nor write, but in order to access the Bible he learned to read.
It was about the time that the explorer H M Stanley met David Livingstone in remote Africa. Mr REED became so excited about this that he concentrated his prayers for years on that one part of Africa praying God would send someone there to win men to Christ and then he died unaware of any answers to his prayer. Within a short while his 3 grandsons had gone to Uganda and some years later his great grandson too
Mr REED had faith in God that HE would answer
He knew how to keep praying and God answered and did exceedingly abundantly above all that he could ask or think
[ Ephesians 3 v 20 ].
Jackson, a faithful Zambian evangelist has proclaimed the Gospel on Kwila Island on Lake Mweru in Northern Zambia for several years. Last year he led another mission and there were 350 converts. Mainly poor labourers or unemployed people who have no money.
He would like to provide each of them with a Bible for clearly God wants them to have His Word so that they may grow, mature and share His Word with others.
Last month we were able to send money to provide 50 people there with Bemba Bibles who don't understand English. He still needs 300 English Bibles at £5 each.
We have enough in hand at present to supply another 40 next month to be bought in Zambia.
I don't know where the rest will come from, nor when.
It is possible there is someone here who God is speaking to on this matter, but even if that is not so, please would you join me in praying that God will show us the solution. Somewhere God has stewards of his wealth who await his commands to invest in His work Let us pray that they will learn of this and act
What began in a court of the Temple goes on still all around the world and more than 16,000 a day are joining Christ's world wide church.
We share the privilege and the opportunity while time remains,
to proclaim the gospel in all the world, including here, and in your villages and in villages beyond them
to make disciples,
to baptise them
to teach them all that He has taught us,
knowing Jesus is with us all the way.
Expect. Attempt, Achieve
AMEN
CLUSTER SERVICE JULY 22nd 2012,
Sermon by John Maddams based on ACTS 3 verse 1 - chapter 4 verse 21
[glow=red,2,300]IN THE NAME OF JESUS [/glow]
The Reading chosen for us this afternoon is
ACTS chapter 3 verse 1-10, verse 16 AND chapter 4 verse 6-10 and 13.
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon.
2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"
5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him
Verse 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
Chapter 4 v
6 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family.
7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed,
10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed
verse 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
220 years ago William Carey, was constrained by the love of God to persuade fellow Baptists to the found the Baptist Missionary Society, through which since, God has transformed worldwide, millions of lives.
Before it was founded, William declared in a famous sermon
EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD
ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD
to which he later could add that we
ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS WITH GOD
These 3 key phrases run through the verses read to us and through the rest of the passage to Chapter 4 verse 20 and through the message I bring you.
During the American Civil war citizens of one Nation were hopelessly divided, and at the siege of Fredericksberg
The Union forces were defending against a Confederate attack and in the battle many soldiers of both sides were killed and injured
The battle raged through the night and the following day and many injured cried out for help and for water
Richard Kirkland a Christian on the Confederate side could bear their cries no longer, he had tried to ignore them, he tried to stick just to doing his duty, in the end he stopped firing and asked his commanding officer
“General, I can't stand this. Those poor souls out there have been praying for water all night and all day, and it is more than I can bear. I ask permission to carry water to them”.
He was told it was madness, he would be shot instantly by one side or the other.
He persisted and finally his commander gave in, expecting him to be instantly killed. He was provided with a supply of water, and exercising faith he ventured out.
His own side stopped firing, as he moved amongst the wounded men, of both sides, moistening parched lips, allowing some to drink what they wanted, straightening out crumpled limbs, putting heads on haversacks , covering people with their blankets or great coats and as he did so the Union soldiers stopped firing too and everybody watched.
For 90 minutes he made a significant difference
His faith in action led to that brief truce, and it brought hope to wounded men and it bought time and respect,
It demonstrated love and it built reconciliation.
He expected God's help. He attempted to do what Jesus would do. He achieved it for his were the hands of Jesus on that occasion.
That true story is a parable of what we have to do for the people of our day who cry out for solutions, for meaning, for purpose, for help in time of need, for proof of God
This passage is a very important one, of an incident right at the beginning of the Christian Church
It was the first test of the authority of the Church
How to deal with an opportunity and it's consequences
and Peter and John had been there before
They had watched Jesus, and he had also sent them forth , the 12 and again later the 70 disciples, and they had seen how people were healed and transformed by God through the Name of Jesus of Nazareth
Here it started privately from a conversation by Peter and John with a man who was begging, who had been crippled from birth, a situation humanly impossible to change.
Here it resulted in this crippled man being completely healed because of their faith and his faith, in the
Name of Jesus of Nazareth
Because of this act of faith Peter finished up preaching to a huge crowd resulting in thousands, including 5000 men, trusting in Jesus and it challenged
the authorities who ruled the people
who all became greatly disturbed
This led
to the arrest of Peter and John
to their appearing before the rulers of the people
to their authority being questioned
A wonderful opportunity to speak up for Jesus.
Peter had challenged the crowds
Why does this surprise you?
Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
The God of our Fathers has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over to be killed
you disowned him, you killed the author of life
but God raised him from the dead
We are witnesses of this
3 times in chapters 3 and 4 come the words
In The Name of Jesus Christ
1. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth - WALK
2. It is the Name of Jesus Christ, and faith that comes through him, that has given this man his complete healing
3. It is by the Name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified but whom God raised from the Dead that this man stands before you healed
The rulers, conferred and decided to nip this dangerous movement in the bud so they warned Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus
But Peter and John replied “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God?
For we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard” We know what God can do.
They expected God's help. They attempted to do what Jesus would do. They achieved it for they were the hands of Jesus on that occasion.
Since then, Rulers, Dictators, Popes, Priests, Governments, Atheist Scientists, and others accorded a little authority have tried to silence God from speaking through his witnesses
have tried to ban, burn, and shut up His word the Bible
have tried to disprove and ridicule God's existence
all to feather their own nests
protect their own backs
and retain their own power over other people
but our answer to them all remains as ever the same
“We know what God can do”.
When we exercise faith in Jesus and ask God to do things in the Name of Jesus, the repercussions can be far reaching.
We all face problems we do not know the solutions too.
Often we are not sure what to do or indeed whether to do anything
Sometimes we take some convincing before we act.
We have to expect God to help us
We have to attempt to co-operate with GOD.
We will that way achieve what God wants us to do
The most important factor in all this is Jesus Christ.
Without His grace towards us we are doomed.
Without his power correcting our weakness we are defeated.
Without Him we cannot do anything of real significance.
In the 1960's a young man name of SAM became a Christian in India and began to preach in a number of village churches.
As he went out preaching he walked past several villages to reach his destinations, where there were no churches.
So in faith he obtained and gave out Tracts and Gospels as he passed by. There are churches there now because God did the rest.
To reach more villages he bought a Bike and one day he found a mission publishing a Bible Study Book. He felt constrained to obtain copies of it for people he knew. 10
He had no money but he went and talked to them They did a deal. He swapped his bike for 250 books and walked several miles home balancing some on his head and dragging the others in a sack.
With several friends SAM organised a Tent Mission in a very strict Hindu area. Despite that,they believed the Lord would convert many people and so they prayed.
2 days passed and no one came. On the 3rd day 2 boys - brothers, arrived. That was all. So they preached to 2 boys, and one that day gave his life to Jesus.
The boy disappeared. No one else showed up.
They all went home disappointed.
Several years later the boy turned up again, now a trained minister and evangelist, and joined their mission and God has used him since to bring thousands to Jesus.
Because of the faith of that young man SAM 43 years later there has grown a Mission with over 650 churches in 5 Asian countries, a Bible School that has trained over 500 pastors and has 40 in training at the moment. A Secondary school for orphans. Open Air missions, a regular Radio and TV ministry, a website, a monthly magazine published in 14 languages, read by over 300,000 people and thousands enrolled in Bible Study courses.
Multitudes of people have had their lives changed because of SAM's faith
He expected God's help.
He attempted to do what Jesus would do.
He achieved it for Jesus enabled him
That could have been you or me, and still could be.
Never give up praying and believing.
And if you are too busy to pray, then you are in truth, too busy
It is recorded that Jesus said “When 2 or 3 of you ask in my name I will do it
But you may say we have prayed and prayed and nothing has happened.
For our prayers to be answered they have to be asked in confident faith in the Authority and in the Power of the Name of Jesus and that means us accepting that we ask according to God's Will It is his Sovereignty that matters more than our desire. He knows best
If what we ask is GODS WILL He will do it To answer our prayers God may have to change lots of people and that takes time.
Sometimes we have to wait a long time for an answer
because to fulfil our prayer the LORD has to untie a lot of people and their problems
I became a Christian on Sept 15th 1954 and I prayed that my Dad would become a Christian too.
Of my experience he told Mum. “Don't worry. The boy has caught religious mania. It will wear off. Give it a fortnight and he will be back to normal”
He was a bit perplexed to discover the contagion was endemic 57 years later it has not worn off yet.
He became a Christian himself in August 1965, nearly 11 years later and after much praying
In the early days of Gold Street Chapel in Saffron Walden, a Mr J W REED joined them He was a carter who used to organise the clearing of the snow from the streets in winter to have all the snow in the Common by 9am so businesses could get on with their work.
Before becoming a Christian he could not read nor write, but in order to access the Bible he learned to read.
It was about the time that the explorer H M Stanley met David Livingstone in remote Africa. Mr REED became so excited about this that he concentrated his prayers for years on that one part of Africa praying God would send someone there to win men to Christ and then he died unaware of any answers to his prayer. Within a short while his 3 grandsons had gone to Uganda and some years later his great grandson too
Mr REED had faith in God that HE would answer
He knew how to keep praying and God answered and did exceedingly abundantly above all that he could ask or think
[ Ephesians 3 v 20 ].
Jackson, a faithful Zambian evangelist has proclaimed the Gospel on Kwila Island on Lake Mweru in Northern Zambia for several years. Last year he led another mission and there were 350 converts. Mainly poor labourers or unemployed people who have no money.
He would like to provide each of them with a Bible for clearly God wants them to have His Word so that they may grow, mature and share His Word with others.
Last month we were able to send money to provide 50 people there with Bemba Bibles who don't understand English. He still needs 300 English Bibles at £5 each.
We have enough in hand at present to supply another 40 next month to be bought in Zambia.
I don't know where the rest will come from, nor when.
It is possible there is someone here who God is speaking to on this matter, but even if that is not so, please would you join me in praying that God will show us the solution. Somewhere God has stewards of his wealth who await his commands to invest in His work Let us pray that they will learn of this and act
What began in a court of the Temple goes on still all around the world and more than 16,000 a day are joining Christ's world wide church.
We share the privilege and the opportunity while time remains,
to proclaim the gospel in all the world, including here, and in your villages and in villages beyond them
to make disciples,
to baptise them
to teach them all that He has taught us,
knowing Jesus is with us all the way.
Expect. Attempt, Achieve
AMEN