The Wonder & the Word, Pt 2 - Acts 3:11-26

[0:00] Amen. It's good to be here this morning, amen. To have our sins forgiven. To worship our God. Go ahead and turn open to Acts chapter 3. We're going to get back into our study.

[0:23] It took a break last week with our missions Sunday and this morning we're going to pick up our story in verse 11 to the end of the chapter. So let me pray for our time and we'll get into it. Let's pray. Father, how wonderful that indeed Jesus paid it all and that we are here to worship you, Lord Jesus. We're here to give thanks to you. We're here to declare that you are good and that your mercies endure forever. We are a blessed people. Spirit of God, would you speak to us through your word? Give us what we need this morning.

[1:35] Might we hear your voice and we will give you thanks. And it's in your name we pray and all that people said. Amen. So as we pick up our narrative two weeks ago we observed a very human interaction, human moment between Peter, John and an individual that society had essentially tagged as expendable. Peter and John entered into a man's suffering and this man's life changed forever. The way that he saw the world, the way that he thought about himself, there was dignity that returned to him because he could begin to do things without the help of everyone around him. This was a good day. And on this day, certainly

[2:42] Peter and John could have easily passed by, but on this day they did not. And as we'll see this morning, that single act of kindness, it cultivated the soil for an even greater kindness to be proclaimed. And so we'll pick up our narrative here in verse 11. I've entitled this morning's message, lessons from a first century missionary. So it very much is in the spirit of last Sunday. You thought missions was done for the year. It's not. It is 24 years. I am a missionary before I'm a pastor. We are missionaries before our profession, calling whatever you want to term it as. And so this morning we will learn some things from Peter on this particular day and I have noted five of these lessons from our text.

[3:45] So let's begin here in verse 11. And Luke writes, while he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.

[4:09] So a man's life was changed on this day. It was pretty significant. It was radical. There is a man who has now been forever outside the temple on this day. He is now on the inside, perhaps for the first time in his life. And he is so overwhelmed by the kindness of Peter and John that it says here he is clinging to them. And I want us to note that he is clinging to them not because he needs help walking because back in verse 8 we see three descriptive words about this man as he experiences healing. He's been an invalid for 40 years and it says now that he is walking, leaping and praising God. The shift in his countenance, it's hard to put into words. It would be like Ebenezer screws on Christmas morning who wakes up and says I am alive. I am alive. And there is a lightness in his spirit and no doubt this man is experiencing things he had never experienced up until this point. His legs are strong.

[5:24] He's able to walk. He's able to move. And it's just a wonderful scene. And I want us to understand here, please catch this, that this man is not a prop simply for the gospel.

[5:44] Peter and John did not heal in order to preach Jesus. I want that to be clear. They exercise kindness towards another human simply as an ethic of God's kingdom. Just like we are called to be peacemakers that were too thirst for righteousness, that were to exercise mercy, humility. These are simply ethics of our kingdom. They are what we would term worship.

[6:16] It's how we worship God, the way that we interact with other people around us. In fact, this is what it looks like to live a life to the glory of God. And so it wasn't as though Peter and John decided, hey, he's going to be a great teaching aid. So let's heal him so we can proclaim the gospel. They simply entered into this man's suffering because that's what Christians do. Now that said, kind people will always have an audience to share important words with others. And I would suggest to us the first lesson that Peter teaches us on how to be a missionary in this world is that we need to be kind. Be a kind missionary.

[7:16] I had an experience probably about a month ago where I had a passenger who I found out was also an Uber driver. And I had decided I'm going to tip him because he's my passenger and he's probably not been tipped well as an Uber driver, so he needs a tip. So we get done with our ride and I try to give him a $10 bill and I'm like, man, you have been the best passenger today. And I want to give you a tip and he didn't know what to do. He kind of freaked out on me and he would not take it. I'm like, take this. And he wouldn't, he's like, you're my driver, you don't tip the passenger like he had, he had the rules down, he knew. And he just didn't know what to do with me. People don't know what to do with kindness because we live in a world of unkindness. In fact, Scripture says that that will be the case. In 2 Timothy 3, it describes some things about the latter days that people will be brutal and they will be heartless. We live in an unkind world. People notice kindness and it often opens doors to speak about important things. And this healed man, he has just overcome with emotion. And everyone nearby, they see what's going on and it actually says their response to him is that they are utterly astounded. They are gobsmacked. They don't know what to do with the fact that this man that they have seen has just simply been an ornament right there at the gate. Beautiful is now alive, vital, strong. And

[9:13] I hope that we sort of have this scene in our mind. The crowd is just, it's instantly formed around this trio of individuals. And it says that they're here there in the portico of Solomon, which is Solomon's porch, if you will. That's what a portico is. And Solomon's porch was just this kind of area that spanned about 300 yards on the east side of the temple.

[9:38] And maybe about 40 feet wide, had a covered roof over it, inlaid with cedar. And there were two rows of these about 40 foot white marble columns. Josephus in the first century, the historian, he says this of Solomon's porch, it was simply without superficial ornamentation.

[10:01] And it held a natural magnificence about it. And so I would just, in your mind's eye, sort of imagine, it's like the covered pavilion up at Riverview where we gather for family camp. Only imagine that that space now extends for 300 yards. It's a large area. And just imagine this place filled, populated with people. In fact, this place in the temple became a popular area, a spot for Christians to gather in Jerusalem in the first century.

[10:35] So it's pretty cool when we go to Riverview and we have sort of a similar type experience under that covered area. So people are, they, their attention, it's all there. Look at verse 12. And when Peter saw it, when he saw the crowd, he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this? Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or our own piety, we have made him walk?

[11:08] So Peter and John at this moment, this very moment, all eyes are on them, they're faced with a decision. They've just something that has gotten them noticed. And they have to decide what they're going to do with that attention. They're ordinary fishermen. They've been thrust into the spotlight. Recall back in chapter two, they were accused of being drunk, which was code for you're too stupid to speak as eloquently as you are. How could you know those languages that are coming out of your mouth?

[11:50] And so I would contend for all of us that one of our lifelong battles is that as followers of Christ, we have to decide where we're going to direct attention. And there's a natural tendency for us to say, look at me versus look at Christ. It's a decision we face every day. Often it's a moment by moment choice. And really, to say look at me is just, it's the ethic of a fallen kingdom. It is what John says in first John, the boastful pride of life. In fact, I read an article yesterday from Gospel Coalition that said self worship is the fastest growing religion in America. And so we have a daily choice. Who gets credit?

[12:43] Who gets attention? Because of our lives. And so I would say our second lesson that we learn from Peter, how to be a good missionary, be a humble missionary that points to Jesus.

[13:01] Be kind and be humble. Point to Jesus. He is the best. We just celebrated communion.

[13:16] And it reminds us, he really paid it all. We really are new creations. Our sins actually are forgiven. It feels too good to be true. And yet it is so. So we point to Jesus. We worship Jesus. And when you fail and you take 10% of the glory, you've kind of worked out a deal with the Lord. Repent. When you find yourself saying something, and it's sort of like it's laced with pride and you didn't even think it was proud until you said it.

[14:04] And then later you think about why did I say that? Just repent. Confess. Oh God, I don't know why I said that. Yes I do. Because we're proud. You know, Lewis said on pride, he said, for there are two things inside me competing with the human self which I must try to become.

[14:28] They are the animal or the carnal self and the diabolical or proud self. The diabolical self, the proud self, is the worst of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But of course, it is better to be neither. Be a humble missionary so that the joy of God using you, you can experience that. And when you're used of the Lord, you're filled with joy. My very favorite Uber day in six years of driving was about three years ago. Snowstorm in Seattle and I took our large red excursion to Seattle, 10 miles a gallon. Everyone that got in my car should have been shaming me. But they weren't. They were so glad to see me. Now,

[15:39] I don't think I made any money that day because again, it's 10 miles to the gallon. I think about broke even. But it was probably my favorite day because I picked up people. They were so blessed. And then I was handing them out. It was Christmas time. So I had this little book, Hidden Christmas, and people were ready to receive it. They didn't care. It wasn't like, I mean, I just saved them. I picked them up. So I was like pushing like Tim Keller books. Like, crack, it was amazing. I think I have about 15 of these left. I'm going to continue to give them out this season. If you have a friend, if you will give this away, you can have some of my stash. Okay. Okay, we got to use different terms here, Scott.

[16:22] I'm not sure what's going on here. Peter, you know, he passed the test on this day. He could have taken some credit. But he didn't. He said, Hey, it's not our power. And it's not our piety. We didn't do this. This any pointed to Jesus. And there's joy when we do that. There truly is church. Well, let's continue. And now we get into the body of actually the sermon that Peter preaches here. This is our second sermon, by the way, of Peter acts records five. We already looked at the first one at Pentecost. So now we're on sermon number two. And let's look at verses 13 to 16 here. Peter says to the crowd, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of pilot when he had decided to release him. But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the author of life. Now I'm reading this as a narrative, narrator, like you guys are children in his bedtime story. This is not probably how it came out. Continue whom God raised from the dead to this we are witnesses. And his name by faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. I have had awkward moments sharing truth with people in my Uber. I am not even in the same galaxy with Peter on this day. And I hope that you see the intensity and the fire that is coming out of Peter's mouth. This is as pointed a message as there is in

[18:33] Scripture. We have a crowd that had just observed a miracle. It's incontrovertible. Man lame, 40 years. Now he's doing the electric slide and everybody's like what in the world just took place. And they want to know what happened to him because they're thinking, man, the power that he experienced, maybe I can experience that. He got a miracle. I want that too. And so the crowd has zero clue as to the verbal bruising that they are about to take. So imagine the buzz of excitement like something miraculous, supernatural just occurred. Peter opens his mouth and he says, you who are listening to me are fools. And people are like what just happened? You missed, no, you opposed the best thing that happened in your lifetimes. This man that's standing before you, he's standing before you not because he channeled his positivity, not because he changed his diet. He's before you by the power of the risen Christ. You know the one, you know Jesus, you crucified him. What in the world? In fact, you killed the author, the source of life. I mean, the mood that changed on this day, I don't know has ever been repeated. I mean, just it just sucked the life. And it's just awkward. No doubt silent. We're thinking we're going to get a miracle. We're going to hear the secret.

[20:41] We're going to find out and then all of a sudden Peter just tells us that we murdered God. And Peter then says, and don't try and pass the buck because Pilate, the Romans, is prepared to let this guy go. He's going to let Jesus go. This is on you. Church, this is the greatest evil that has ever occurred on planet earth. The murder of our maker.

[21:14] We're people. We murdered God. It doesn't get any worse. And Peter here is putting their sin right in front of them. Why? Is it because he's unkind? Is he trying to just shame them, rub their sin in their face? Because Peter, he hates people, he's intolerant or he's just a jerk? No, see, Peter knows the truth and Peter is playing for keeps. And he knows that the parent condition of this crowd without knowledge of the Savior, they have an eternity in hell before them. An eternity of regret where that burden never lifts. I can't even imagine. I think the third lesson that we can gain from Peter here is that we have to be missionaries that speak truth. We have to be missionaries that speak truth. And I think Peter knew, like, he had blown it. Recall, he had blown it. He was like, man, I want to be liked. And so I don't know this man. I don't know this man. I don't know this man. And he's like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm done. I'm not going to do that anymore. He's now filled with God's spirit. He has capacity, right, to walk in a different cadence, a different control, a different spirit. Avoiding truth in love, fourth, it's not love. Avoiding truth in love is not love. It's just, it's really just self-preservation. If you want me to be totally just frank with you. That's what it is. Majority of churches in the city that I just moved from two and a half years ago, hanging rainbow flags from their buildings. It's not love. It's self-preservation.

[23:39] Real love does not pretend that a person is okay when they're not. If they don't have the Savior, their eternity, it lies in the balance. Can you imagine a doctor practicing medicine this way?

[24:01] Fearful to tell you the truth. So they altered the diagnosis. Give you a lesser diagnosis. Well, what would you think of him? Well, in the moment, you'd probably be pretty thrilled. I don't have that thing. Yeah. And then you would be cursing him on your deathbed when that disease takes over.

[24:23] All the while he was saying, oh, it's just a mild case of acid reflux. Don't worry about it. You'd be cursing him. Yeah. A doctor that avoids truth is a lousy doc. Just as an ambassador for Christ that avoids truth is a lousy missionary. Lousy ambassador. And maybe some of you're going, oh, awesome. Jay, you said truth. I'm all about the truth. I'm going to go torch some unbelievers with the truth. Okay. A good missionary back is kind. Remember that one? And humble. See, they all go together. And it's hard sometimes in just the world in which we live where we feel very attacked often to get into defensive posture. And if you're a fighter or a fliter, and there's a lot of fighters in the church, and I understand that. Probably my most shameful moment, and I'm going to share it. And I'm not going to talk about with you afterwards. But here it is for all of you to feel better about yourself. I drove a fellow that was telling me about the Catholic

[25:47] Church. And I said, hey, we don't have to talk about this. If you don't want to talk, he's like, no, no. And so he just proceeded to tell me about his Catholic faith and how he left the evangelical church and how we're wrong. And I was trying to like say, and he just kept talking.

[26:06] And then we get to where I drop him off and he leaves. And he's like, I used to be one of you. And that triggered me, triggered. So I opened my door because I didn't get to speak. And to my shame, I'm yelling at a passenger who's now walking away from me on the sidewalk. Purgatory's not in the Bible. I'm so glad that's not on film, you know, or some camera. And I get back in the car and I'm like, yeah, you know, and then I started to feel really bad. It takes a while. But then it's like, I'm an idiot. You know, I got caught up and I want to win an argument. And we can get suckered into that. And I had to repent. I had to repent. Well, this would be an unkind word from Peter if he just left it there, but he doesn't. Let's continue. Look at verse 17. He says, And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what

[27:17] God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Catch it here. Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. I want us to notice the shift in Peter. He was very pointed. He spoke hard, hard truth. And there were thousands listening. And then his tone softens.

[28:08] The truth doesn't soften, but his tone softens. He says, You know, I'm gonna acknowledge that you acted in ignorance. Like you, you didn't recognize your Messiah. None of you ever could have even fathomed the notion of a suffering Messiah. It's not in your mind distasteful to you, even though spoken about in the Old Testament, right? Isaiah in 53 and 52 and 53, suffering servant, Psalm 22, Psalm 69. It was spoken, but you didn't catch it. So you acted in ignorance.

[28:51] You shouldn't have been, but you were. But Peter doesn't say so you're okay, right? Like ignorance does not let a person off the hook. It's not like ignorance is get out of hell card. We know ignorance doesn't work in life in any arena. Parents doesn't work with parents, doesn't work with teachers, doesn't work with cops. Like how far does I don't know go? It doesn't go very far.

[29:22] Mom, I don't know why I had to fit. Oh, we'll have a snack. No, there's punishment. I don't, I didn't know there was going to be a pop quiz teacher. Great. Officer, I didn't know what Jay Walker was going to just hop in the road. And I was going to slam into the car in front of me.

[29:47] How far does that go? I'll tell you, because on Monday, I said to the officer, I didn't see the Jay Walker and the car in front of me. And you know what he said? Here's your ticket. See, I test these. It's a hypothesis. I tested it. It's true. I mean, I had to total my car in order to make this point. So I'm going to make this point. Okay. It's going to be worth something.

[30:14] Ignorance is not an excuse. And by the way, scripture is clear. Ignorance is not an excuse because people actually aren't ignorant. Conscience, creation, man knows. But it doesn't get us very far with man. And it certainly doesn't get us very far with God either. In fact, this is pretty fascinating. Maybe you've never read this passage this way. But in Luke 23, 33 and 34, it says, And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him, speaking of Jesus, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, catch this father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And the cast lost to divide his garments. It's fascinating. Even in their ignorance, they still need forgiveness. Catch that. So we can turn a blind eye to our illness, but it doesn't make it go away. If you don't know Christ as Savior, if you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior today, that means that you will spend an eternity apart from your maker. That's the truth. Jonathan Edwards, great 18th century revivalist, he said it this way. He said, unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering.

[31:52] Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten, rotten covering. Do we believe that?

[32:04] Because that's fuel. Does the urgency of eternity, does it prick our hearts? For our friends, for our neighbors, for our family? Because the only solution man has is to crowd to Jesus.

[32:19] That's it. That's it. In fact, Peter says, repent. Verse 19, repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out and times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And I believe that's talking about specifically present. You will experience God's presence right now.

[32:40] His spirit dwells you, you will experience His presence. That is, there's times of refreshing. There's nothing more refreshing in life like empowering them to know like, I'm clean before God.

[32:52] Yeah. It says your sins are blotted out, erased. The stains been removed. That's the power of the gospel. Even for the very people, and I want you to catch this that shouted, Bravis, Bravis, take down Jesus. Peter speaking to those people, them, even them. The worst sin man could commit, it's actually not too late to be pardoned in this life. So if you're here this morning and you are secretly hanging on to your need to somehow work off your sin, just stop. Stop. The power of the gospel is that real sins are forgiven. Amen. Real sins are forgiven. Amen. That means you're clean.

[34:05] You've been forgiven of past, present, future. You're clean. Let's say it together. I'm clean. Let's try it again. I'm clean. Now, some of you may be had trouble because you're like, okay, but there's this other thing, like you don't know, like, did you murder God? Because these people did.

[34:27] And Peter says your sins can be blotted out. So get in line. You're clean. And that's refreshing to the soul. You want to be a good missionary? Fourth lesson from Peter is this. You have to actually believe the gospel for yourself and for others. Now, this is high risk and it does not require audience participation. You can opt out. I'm not going to call you out for being a liar. Sometimes I do. I won't on this one. Okay. You have my word. Yeah, I don't trust him. I wouldn't trust me either, but I'm curious. Here's the question. Which is harder? Is it harder to believe that God could forgive you or to forgive others? How many of you, if you want to participate, just raise your hand.

[35:34] It's harder to believe that God could forgive others. I'm just curious. Okay. A few of you. Yeah, a few of you. How many of you, it's harder to believe that God could forgive you?

[35:53] Okay. If you raise your hand and put it up higher, please. And I just, for just for a moment, I'm sorry to do this, but some of you in here still don't think you're forgiven. And I want you to see that this is something that every or many in Christ struggle with. And this is the essence of the joy that we have in Christ is to believe the gospel for yourself. And some of you, because I know how I just have spoken to too many people over the years and always comes down to, but you don't know what I did. I don't need to. But I can list off every imaginable sin. And this is a PG. This is a family service. So I'm not going to do that. But trust me, I've seen far more depravity in my office hearing of what folks have been involved in than ever going to the movies. Truly.

[36:48] I mean, I think God could see the same thing. It's like, and here's the thing. I don't care. I mean, I care, but I want you to know that you're forgiven. If you cry out to Jesus and you ask him to forget, you're forgiven. And I had to work with a fellow that he's involved in some homosexual stuff. I had to deal with another person. It was an incest situation. And I'm just telling you, you cry out to the Lord to forgive you. He'll blot out your sins because God tells the truth.

[37:19] You want to be a good missionary, you have to believe the gospel for yourself. It's a beautiful promise, not only that we'll experience joy now, but also in the future.

[37:35] Time for restoring all things. Christ will return. There's a future where all the sad things will become untrue. I love the picture in Revelation 7.17. It says, for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. You know, this word wipe away every tear. It's actually the same word Peter just used for blotting out our sins. It's just God has taken your sin. There's a day coming when he will also take your tears. Amen. So we have a future and you know what? We do talk and we do preach. We do proclaim that there is a heaven because that's what the Bible tells us.

[38:28] It's beautiful. It's beautiful because it's true. Well, let's listen to Peter as he finishes. He is talking about the prophets which have been mentioned often in his sermon. He's going to talk about Moses now, the leading prophet, verifying that Jesus is who he claimed to be versus 22 to the end, Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

[38:54] You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet to Jesus shall be destroyed from the people and all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaim these days and by the way Samuel is considered the first Old Testament prophet after Moses. Okay, verse 25, you are the sons of the prophets. Okay, Peter saying this to the crowd. You're the sons of the prophets.

[39:28] You're Jews and the covenant that God made with your fathers saying to Abraham and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. It comes from Genesis 12, 1 to 3. God having raised up a servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. So Peter is telling the crowd, there is a prophet who has been promised.

[40:08] Moses talked about him and if you recall, the Jewish people were looking for this prophet because recall what they said to John the Baptist, John 121 they said, hey, are you the prophet?

[40:26] What prophet are they thinking of? They're thinking of the prophet that Moses said is going to come. He's going to come and he's going to be like me. How is the prophet going to be like Moses? Moses was a unique prophet in the sense that God spoke to Moses face to face. Didn't do that with any other prophets. Says that in Deuteronomy 1815. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. And how is like Moses? Says in numbers 12, Moses is unique. Says in numbers 12 that other prophets, they get a vision, they get a dream, they get a riddle, but Moses speaks to God mouth to mouth face to face. So 1500 years, the people that Peter is speaking to have been waiting for this prophet, the prophet that had been prophesied, the Jewish people had the advantage. They're the son of the prophets,

[41:27] Father's Abraham, they should have known, they should have seen Jesus, but they missed him.

[41:37] They should have responded to the gospel because all the prophets pointed to Jesus. And if you're counting, there's about 300 plus, some have said 324, give or take, prophecies, point to Jesus and fulfilled in Jesus. Think of the Old Testament as the age of promise and the New Testament as the age of fulfillment.

[42:08] It's incredible. The prophets said Jesus, over 300 of them, prophecies made about Jesus, fulfilled in Jesus. Guess what, church, this book, they're recorded in here. Did you know this?

[42:31] Yeah, I know. Now, do you realize that? Yeah. Let me give you eight of them. Don't have time for all 324. It says in Micah 5,2 that the Messiah will be born in a little obscure town called Bethlehem. Oh, born of a virgin, Isaiah 714, from the tribe of Judah, Genesis 4910.

[43:07] Do you know what it says in the Old Testament that there's going to be a messenger that's going to show up before Jesus? It's in Malachi 3,1. It says that Jesus is going to enter Jerusalem, the Messiah is going to enter Jerusalem on a donkey, Zechariah 9,9. It says that.

[43:30] We've got prophets that are speaking seven, five, 100 years before Jesus. And this is what they're saying to the Messiah. Zechariah 11,12, he'll be sold for 30 pieces of silver. Well, I didn't know that was in there. It is. Executioners are going to cast lots for his clothing. Psalm 22, verse 18.

[43:58] Do you know actually it says that the Messiah will be raised from the dead? Psalm 1610. Peter actually uses this in a later sermon and Paul as well. The Old Testament prophesies that the Messiah will raise from the dead. Church, what's the probability of 300 plus prophecies fulfilled in a person, in one individual? I can't give you the stats on that, but just the eight I read back in the 60s. Dr. Peter Stoner, he ran the numbers, used mathematics and probability of stuff that's just talked to Kamesh afterwards. He'll explain it. But here's the distilled down version for normal people. Sorry, Kamesh. He did the mathematical probability of just eight prophecies fulfilled in Jesus. He said it's actually just one in 10 to the 17th power, which means absolutely nothing to me. This is where I understand it. It says, or it's like filling the entire state of Texas with silver dollars, just like one after the other, but just it's all over the stage. It's the floor. And then we're going to cover the entire state.

[45:16] And then we're going to fill up the state two feet deep with silver dollars. And then we're going to put a red X on one of them. And we're going to blindfold somebody. And we're going to say, you can go anywhere in the state and just pick that silver dollar out.

[45:34] I mean, I couldn't even grab it if there was like one in 10 in my bag. I mean, it's think about that. Church, I think we forsake the prophecies in this book. And what do I mean by this?

[45:55] I'll put it to you this way. Julie and myself were married for five years. I come in the house. I'm in the living room. I look up on the wall. I say, who in the world smuggled this piece of artwork in here? There's a little girl with little geese following her. I mean, at that moment, I knew I was married, took five years, but then I was like, man, I would never have put that on my wall. Okay. And I'm just like, what in the world? When did we get this? And then, what do you know what my wife says? It's been there since we were married. For emphasis, dummy. Just hidden in plain sight. I didn't even see it. Guys, these are the prophecies. They're hidden in plain sight. Lesson number five from Peter. You want to be good missionary? Be courageous. Why? Because truth is on our side. It's on our side. We have the data. You know what the enemy has?

[46:55] Subjective feelings and lies. We have the data and we forsake it. The prophecies in this book have been fulfilled in Christ. 300 plus. Oh, I think God's kind of real. Are you kidding me?

[47:17] Truth is on our side. So be courageous in speaking good news. Prophecies, it's irrefutable. And Satan hates that. That's why he twists. And it's just hidden in plain sight for us. Don't forsake that. When you talk about people and they say, man, I don't I don't I don't think the Bible is what you let's talk about the prophecies. Let's just talk about those. What do you do with that? What if you had somebody get up here and say, hey, I know every team is going to win March Madness 2022. And I even know the scores of every game. 2022, they're correct. You'd be freaking out. That's nothing. It's nothing. Be courageous because truth is on our side. And that's our God. So as we battle souls, just know this, Satan's outmatched.

[48:23] He's bringing a knife to a gunfight. He's outmatched completely the data. It's on our side. Father, thank you for tying together. Thank you that you tell us the truth. Thank you that our salvation secure because of everything that you did, all dependent on you, not on us.

[48:45] Nothing we can do. Nothing we're nowhere we can go that we could lose our salvation because it's of grace. It's not a work. Lord, I pray that you would continue to grow unctioned in us as a people that we would be courageous. We would be kind. We would be humble. But we would speak about you.

[49:08] We would point people towards you. We would believe that eternity is at stake. Lord, that that would be on the frontals of our minds. Lord, it took me a while to get there. You know.

[49:24] And I want to stay there. Lord, and I want there to be people here at fourth that will walk with me where we can encourage one another. We can encourage one another. Lord, we want to be a church where we are offering good news.

[49:42] The hope of an eternity with you, salvation, forgiveness, new life. It's so good. Might we live today with an incredible amount of gratitude? And might your people know your joy today? It's in Jesus' name. God's people said, Amen.