What Happened Next #6 - Make A Call

 What Happened Next #6 - Make A Call Acts 4:23-31

Q. “How Does The Holy Spirit Help Me To Pray?”

A. He shakes the foundations and answers you.

So if the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon you and me and we have received power as promised. What's the difference? The boldness of the disciples is not always my experience – is it yours? I don't like conflict. I'm still a bit scared of failure. I don't want to do more harm than good. Do you?

Well the good news is that the Holy Spirit is a guide and counsellor as well as a source of spiritual power. When things get challenging – He is there to guide. When we pray, He answers.

Example: Phones. We all know how to use one of those don't we? Press Button A wasn't it.....

How did those first disciples learn about prating in the power of the Holy Spirit?

But what of it doesn't work, or you don't know what to do? Like this....

3.30am the phone rings. It can't be good news. Its the Red Button control centre. Mum has pressed the button and isn't answering the phone. Time to go. Is she OK? Asleep in bed! Equipment flashing. Press the Red Button. Flash! Beep! Brr! At 4am!. Press all the buttons (there's only 3!). “This is an Alarm Call. Replace the handset” - no response. Use the mobile together. Call BT. Exchange fault! Go back to bed. But it made me think. What do we do when the phone doesn't work? When the communication is broken?

Am I doing it right? Still pressing Button A? Rote, Church only, Routine, TalkTalkTalk. May not be the best way for me today. Try another route. Go mobile! Go together.

Is my link to the Holy Spirit down? Guilt, anger, false humility, faithlessness are all broken lines. Check your connections.

Ask for help? You may have to wait. Its not always your fault.

What did they do?

• Back to their own people v23 – share with others of faith.
• reported the facts v23 – don't try to cover up.
• raised their voices – together – in prayer to God. Don't give up. Remember the Lord loves you!
• Ruler – Creator – Word – Authority. Remind yourself who He is. What He has done.
• Be prepared to wait – but also to act with boldness
• He will back us up with power

What did God do? What will God do?

• Shake the foundations
• pour out his power
• Change the world

Do not act where you will not pray.

Do not pray where you will not act.

What Happened Next #4 cts 3:1-10 "So Get Up" Personal and Social Restoration

Acts 3#1-10 What Happened Next? #4

Personal and Social Restoration

The Holy Spirit is still poured out upon us today and He still changes us and still sends us out to fulfil the mission of Jesus to the world.

The Same Today: We are aware of the needs around us. Just like Jesus.

Personal and Social exclusion.

Disapproval and Danger

Do we differentiate between “deserving” and undeserving” poor?

The Same Today: We have the gift of the Spirit. Just like Jesus.

Meeting people not policies: Peter “sees” the lame man as one who will be saved/healed.

Attentive expectations. The lame man sees Peter as possible Good News.

Do we see through Jesus' eyes?

The Same Today: We have the power of the Spirit.. Just like Jesus.

What we can't we admit. No experts. Limited resources.

What we can we do. Open and compassionate hearts.

The result is restoration and rejoicing. From daily begging routine to a whole new life with all its joy and its challenges. He entered the temple with them. People saw it. Wonder & Amazement.

How do you see yourself?

Deserving – undeserving?

Poor – Rich?

Powerless - Empowered ?

God longs to make us whole.

What Happened Next #3 “Its Still Happening” Acts 2:37-47

TRINITY SUNDAY: We believe in One God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• 38Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39"For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.
  

One of the works of the Holy Spirit it to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ – and to enlivien the faith of those who already believe. When the first disciples “wake up” at Pentecost the people are drawn in. Peter gets the chance to explain about...... about Jesus. What he has done. Who he is. How they have treated him. And then...

People Respond: “What must we do?”

1. Something to Start: Repent & Be Baptised & Receive HS- like this?
   1. Turn around: blindfold and instructions
   2. Join the group: go through the hoop (baggage?)
   3. Open wide: blindfold off, accept the prize
   4. Could you do that for someone else? Try!
      
      
      
2. Something to Keep Going. First steps must be followed by another, and another....v42 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
   
   
   1. Teaching HS – where are people coming to seek God? - Cell/Small Groups, Alpha
      
   2. Fellowship HS – Baptised into “one body” - how do people feel they belong?
      
   3. Breaking Bread HS – Are we Re-membering Jesus – fitting Jigsaw pieces. “Butterfly”
      
   4. Prayer HS – Talk & Listen to God through HS are we dong this together?
      

The story is one that must be passed on – to those who are “far off”.

The Trinity is not a starting place. The starting place is the experience of the disciples. They all knew that God is ONE. “I am the Lord your God and there are no God's before me”. Yet their experience of the living, dying, risen Jesus led them to a shocking confession from “You are the Christ – the Son of the Living God” and onwards to “My Lord – and My God!” for they had heard Jesus “the Father and I are one” and “if you have seen me you have seen the Father” and seen Jesus open the eyes of the blind, forgive sins, raise Lazarus from the dead with divine power. Now they had experiences the power of the Holy Spirit for themselves, just as Jesus had promised. The Spirit “from the Father” which the church recognised as the very presence of God. The only way to honour these realities is to insist that God is ONE still. But that in the One-ness there is a community: Father, Son, Spirit. A community of love into which we are invited for “he is with you and will be in you”.

“What Happened Next” #2 “It Did Happen” - What happens when the Holy Spirit comes? Acts 2:1-12

Last week we learnt “This promise is for you, your children and all who are far off” What happens?

1. You notice v1-4. 2. Other people notice v5-11. 3. People ask questions v7-12

Intro. God the Holy Spirit is in all things.

Like CO2. Its in the air all around. You breathe it in and, because there's not much you can do with it, you breathe it out again. But some of it stays in you I suppose. Like this bottle of water. Air dissolves in water. So in this water there is some CO2. But you wouldn't really notice. Its not really doing anything.

So, in much the same way because God is in everything, we can say that the Holy Spirit is in each one of us who are alive. That's good isn't it? But maybe it doesn't make much difference?

1. You Notice.

But it doesn't have to be like that. In fact it is not supposed to be like that. Jesus said “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Do you feel powerful? Could you have “received power” inadvertently and not realised it? Not very likely, is it?
Like CO2. Water can be supercharged with it. Who likes Beer? Coke? Pepsi? (other carbonated beverages are available...” How does it get like that? You put extra in! Pure CO2 is powered into the water. And it changes it. Look (charge bottle). It sparkles! It bubbles! It tastes nicer! It might make you burp but there are always side effects!
When the Holy Spirit came on the first disciples – they noticed it! Their heads had flames on them. The heard a tornado in the room. They started talking foreign. So today. You don't have to be satisfied with the “God is in everything” state. You can receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. He'll make a change that you can notice. BUT

2. Other People Notice.
You see its not given to you as a reward or, primarily, to make you nicer, livelier, tastier... Its to be a witness, as we heard last week. In this reading the people outside the private gathering didn't see the tongues of flame or the tornado. No, but they heard something. They heard these uneducated rabble talking in their own languages. They were attracted. It couldn't be kept quiet.
The Holy Spirit is like that too. If we power up the bottle. If we shake it up. If we take a look inside.......what do we see. Wow! It's all coming out, fizzing up, spilling over. Quick – catch it! The Holy Spirit wants to break out from our lives to involve all those around us. But to do that, you have to take the lid off. Then what happens? A sudden rush, an outpouring, then.... it all goes a bit flat. Ring any bells?

3. Questions are asked.
Jesus said “...and you will be my witnesses”. Peter says that this promise is for “all who are far off”. How far off? “in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the World.” How do we witness to Jesus?
Well you see this CO2? Its all around. It can power up the water bottle. It can be a demonstration of the power within. But there's more. You are not a just bottle of water. You are not even a charged up bottle of water. Not even one that has been shaken up ready for opening. You and I can be Sodastreams. We can be those who bring this promise of the Holy Spirit to those around us.

Conclusion.
God the Holy Spirit is in you and in everything. God the Holy Spirit can change you and empower you. God the Holy Spirit can work through you to bring life to others. Is that what your heart desires?

What Happened Next #5 Holy Boldness -- What If I'm Afraid of Getting It Wrong?

What Happened Next #5 Acts 4:1-22 Holy Boldness

“What Do I Do If I'm Afraid of Getting It Wrong?”

The Spirit was promised – and the promise was delivered at Pentecost. The promise is still true for us who are “far off” in time and place. Now we have to live in that power – we are not powerless.

But we are a bit scared.

I used to sit on my Mum's Mobylette Moped in the garage and pretend to be at the TT races. I even put on the helmet and goggles! Brrrm Brrrm! Then I discovered the key! By turning the little key and pedaling Broom! The engine started! Wow! 49 cubic centimetres of power! But I kept it safely on the stand – you can't be too careful.... Danger! Excitement! Speed!Of course the only real dangers were a) My mum would find out. b) It would slip off the stand and crash into to garage wall. c) (and I didn't know about this though its the only real danger) I would asphyxiate myself with Carbon Monoxide. I wasn't worried about that - but I should have been!

The Sanhedrin tried to scare Peter into staying in the garage with the moped on its stand. “Make all the noise you like” they sort of said “But don't take it out on the streets. Otherwise you'll be in trouble if we find out.” They were afraid of the power. It wasn't just the teaching about Jesus -I'm sure they could have coped with that as a theological debate. After all they had all sorts of disagreements between Pharisee and Sadducee about Resurrection. But the problem was this demonstration of power – the healed crippled man who annoyingly kept bounding up and down “walking and leaping and praising God” they had “nothing to say in opposition” v14 to that.

They'd have preferred the “moped on its stand in the garage saying brmm brmm” model.

They could just about live with the “engine running behind closed doors in fear” model.

But they didn't want the moped out on the streets.

Today a moped.

Tomorrow a Tiger Cub

Next it will be a Mini, an Estate Car, an MGB!

Of course the Council wanted to restrict what the newborn church would do with this Holy Spirit Power. If they could be kept just talking about it then they would get bored, disagree with one another, disperse, fragment and make no impact on the world. Brmm Brmm.

Is it just words with us?

And if they tried to practice behind closed doors, a secret mystery sect with arcane mysteries kept for the committed and advanced recipients of gnosis only – they would eventually choke themselves to death and disappear.

Do we want to keep it private and personal?

But once they hit the streets everyone will notice.

And that's a whole new world of fears to wrestle with. What if I fall off? What if everyone laughs at me? What if I break down or run out of fuel? What if someone crashes into me? What about pot holes? How much is the insurance – how much! I'll have to learn the Highway Code, pass a test. And then someone will want a lift. But once you have the bug – you can't NOT ride it, can you? Peter says “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” v20.

Are some of these your fears?

Well Ok they are some of mine too.

Its sensible to be scared on a moped.

But it mustn't stop you from setting off, keeping going, learning and growing.

And in Faith all of those things have happened – falling, scorn, attacks, tragedies, expense, learning, testing, demands – but once you have the bug – the power of the Holy Spirit in you – you cannot stop.

If you are afraid of getting it wrong. Don't worry. You will. But that's OK. God likes mistakes.

You'll get used to it! Start pedaling. 

What Happened Next #1 Acts 1:1-11: It Will Happen

What Happened Next?

A series on Acts

• Each week we will ask a question that the sermon will help people to answer. 
• We'll see how the experience of the early church reflects something that Jesus said or did in the Gospels.
• Our understanding is that The Holy Spirit is still at work in and through us, his Church, in the same way today though the way that is expressed will be culturally relevant.

This Week: "It Will Happen", The Promise of the Holy Spirit Acts 1:1-11. 

Is the promise of the Holy Spirit still valid? 

When has the Spirit confirmed your faith? 

When has the Spirit taught you something in particular? 

When have you felt strengthened by the Spirit? 

Why would you like more of the Spirit's power in your life right now?

The Raincoat and The Jumper.

Jesus says: “John baptised with water but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Water” – to symbolise cleansing from your old life and being saturated with the life of God. We know now that it is the death of Jesus for us that cleanses us from sin and that we rise with him to new life – but life that is to be saturated with the presence of Jesus by His Spirit. A raincoat gets wet in the rain but a quick shake will dry it off and you remain teh same underneath. A jumper is “saturated” and you are definitely different!.  But is this true for us – or just for the first apostles?

Some say:

• Holy Spirit manifestation was for the confirmation of the Apostles as the inheritors of Jesus mission. These were the “signs following” of which Jesus spoke. Once the gospel was preached and the Apostles recognized then these manifestations ceased “Are there tongues, they will cease..” says St. Paul who spoke in tongues more than anyone. But – did Jesus say “you will receive confirmation when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you”?
• Holy Spirit came to “lead us into all truth”. In the early days the church had only the oral tradition of its Apostles but as the church grew this would not be sufficient. The Holy Spirit spoke to individuals and to the church until such time as the councils, led by the same spirit, could gather all the true teaching into the canon of scripture which would contain “all truth” and so be all the teaching that we need to follow Christ. But – did Jesus say “You will receive Teaching when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you”?
• Holy Spirit comes to feed and strengthen our Spirits and to make us more like Jesus. When we take and eat bread and wine together we are, by the power of the Holy Spirit, imbibing Jesus himself. Each week or month we use up this spiritual nourishment and need to come back to the Lord's Table or The Altar to be topped up with the sacraments to keep us going. These sacraments are the channel that the Holy Spirit has established to feed his people. But did Jesus say “You will receive feeding when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you”?
• Jesus said “you shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you.” He means that we will be changed by this encounter with His Spirit. “You will receive Power when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you”. (Red Dwarf Time Machine in Space. No change! Add turbocharger to engine on bench. No change!) Power needs a purpose. “You will receive Power when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses”. Confirmation – Teaching – Feeding, Yes! But more than that – Power to change you and for you to change the world into followers of Jesus. Not just getting you wet on the outside – but saturated with his love so everyone you touch is “infected”. Like Annie in the River. Me? Allesley? 2015? Far off?
• 38Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39"For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.

Should Christians Vote?

10 reasons why Christians should vote. (taken from the web)

John 10:11-16, 

Jesus is the one who takes responsibility for us – all God's children – like a good shepherd. Its not just that Jesus is a decent bloke and wants to do a good shepherding job. Its more than that – he is committed to the sheep. Knew their mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers – and will provide for them, help them give birth, protect them even at the cost of his own life. Jesus takes responsibility.

Just as these parents and God parents take responsibility – make themselves answerable to God for these children. They are committed.

Jesus says that there is “one flock and one shepherd” the implication is plain. We are all responsible for one another. We must all care for one another. We cannot opt out with impunity. And that brings me to the General Election.

John 6:30-40
“What's in it for me?” asks the voter? Ask those who follow because of the bread (Jn6). We expect those who lead us to benefit us. But our membership of a community also has responsibilities. We cannot opt out. You can't have the bread of heaven without following the Son. This is true for us in our society. We must play our part rather than bemoan its failings from the spiritual sidelines. 

Why?

1. Voting publicly recognises that we submit to the authority of the political system in our nation as established by God. (Romans 13:1-7)

2. Voting recognises the equality of all people and their right to speak and be heard. (Deuteronomy 10:17-19) OPOV was a hard won battle.

3. It is one way that we can obey God's command to seek the good of those around us and our nation as a whole. (Jeremiah 29:5-6)

4. It shows that we care deeply about who our leaders are as we are urged to offer prayer and intercession on their behalf. (1 Timothy 2:1,2)

5. It is a simple yet significant way we can do something about politics in our nation. 'All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing', Edmund Burke. (Psalms 34:14)

6. It makes a difference the way a grain of salt makes a difference, and that is how we are to influence our society for good. (Matthew 5:13)

7. It is a privilege not to be taken for granted. Those of us who reap the benefits of living in a democracy should play a part in upholding democracy.

8. Not voting is a form of voting, as it will influence the outcome. We need to take responsibility for our actions, as well as our lack of actions. (Luke 10:25-37) If we do not vote we are tacitly accepting responsibility for the actions of those who are elected.

9. Voting has biblical precedence for example Acts 14:23 describes that the early Christians elected elders by voting.

10. Voting is part of our stewardship to use all the resources we have been given in ways that honour God; to waste a vote is to squander a gift.

The House of Bishops of the Church of England writes this:-

“At this election, we can sow the seeds of a new politics. We encourage voters to support candidates and policies which demonstrate the following key values:

• Halting and reversing the accumulation of power and wealth in fewer and fewer hands, whether those of the state, corporations or individuals.

• Involving people at a deeper level in the decisions that affect them most.

• Recognising the distinctive communities, whether defined by geography, religion or culture, which make up the nation and enabling all to thrive and participate together.

• Treating the electorate as people with roots, commitments and traditions and addressing us all in terms of the common good and not just as self-interested consumers.

• Demonstrating that the weak, the dependent, the sick, the aged and the vulnerable are persons of equal value to everybody else.

• Offering the electorate a grown up debate about Britain’s place in the world order and the possibilities and obligations that entails.”

You may want to add some other core values yourself?

This requires us to do more thinking and praying than simply saying “Don't vote for BNP” or “All Christians should vote Green”. Obviously they will all depend on your reading of scripture and your understanding of God will.

Like me you probably have parties with whom you broadly agree but who have one or two policies with which you cannot agree: Same Sex marriage, EU membership issues, Education controls, Immigration, outsourcing of parenting, Social housing policies etc. We have to balance the importance of those issues against the “good” policies we perceive and not let them stop us from making our contribution.

Above all: Listen – Think – Pray – Vote.