The Message of the Mission

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[0:49] Wow, thank you for your worship this evening. It's just such a blessing. And I know that that second song is probably a new song, but that's not going to be a new song for long.

[1:00] You're going to get probably tired of hearing that one, about standing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so that will become a favorite of ours because that's what we're all about here at Faith Family.

[1:12] Amen? Better say amen. All right, so you've got a Bible, Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3, we've been in a series now for a few weeks, going through the book of Acts. And listen, this evening's message, it's going to be a little bit different.

[1:26] It doesn't mean it's any less important for us to listen to and hear. In fact, sometimes when you're kind of preaching through a book, one of the things as a preacher it's always difficult to do is to gauge the pace.

[1:39] Like, are we going too fast? Do we need to slow down? And sometimes I just see things that I feel like we need to just pause and kind of put a stake in the ground and be taught that and to look at that.

[1:53] So tonight, that's kind of what this is going to be. And so I hope that you'll be... In fact, you'll see in just a moment, I'm preaching as much to myself as I am anybody in this room, I assure you, or watching online.

[2:07] But yet, it is unbelievably important for us. And so we're going to pause here in Acts 3 before we move on and look at something that I think is very, very important.

[2:17] So Acts chapter 3, beginning at verse 11, if you're able to stand, please do so. As we honor the reading of God's Word, a little bit of a lengthy passage, but let me read through Acts 3, verse 11.

[2:29] It says, While he, that is the lame man, clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded at the lame man's miracle, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon.

[2:42] And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, said, Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this? And why do you stare at us as though by our power or piety, we made him walk?

[2:54] The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and the God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.

[3:09] 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, whom God raised from the dead.

[3:21] And 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.

[3:37] And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that is, his Christ, would suffer, he thus fulfilled. So repent, therefore, and turn again, 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.

[4:08] Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your fathers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.

[4:23] And all the people who have spoken from Samuel and those that came after him also proclaimed these days, You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

[4:41] God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

[4:54] There's so much in that passage. So pray with me and pray for me as we ask God to teach us tonight. Lord, I pray that you'd just help me communicate clearly your word to your people tonight.

[5:09] I pray that this passage would speak to us. Lord, that would really help us understand what the message of the mission is all about.

[5:20] And that you would, for us, myself as a preacher and for us as a congregation, give us clarity on what the main thing is supposed to be. So just spirit, lead us now as we look to the word of God and we pray it in Jesus' name.

[5:35] And God's people said, Amen. You can be seated. Well, several months ago, a plane full of passengers boarded a flight on British Airways.

[5:48] And for the next hour and a half or so, they enjoyed a very nice, smooth flight. Nothing really seemed to be out of the ordinary at all.

[5:58] In fact, the plane landed safely. The flight attendant then announced, as they often do, to everyone on the plane, welcome to Edinburgh.

[6:12] There's just one big problem with that. No one on the plane was going to Edinburgh. Everybody on the plane thought they were supposed to land in Germany, which of course is the exact opposite direction of Edinburgh.

[6:29] And at first, when they announced that, like everybody on the plane thought it was a joke. Like, okay, the pilot is playing some type of prank on us until they realized we're actually in Edinburgh.

[6:42] We are not where we are supposed to be. And what happened after a little bit of looking into things, the same plane that they were on had flown from London to Edinburgh and back the previous day.

[6:58] And when someone was filling out the paperwork for the next day's flight plan, they accidentally filed the exact same information.

[7:09] So when the pilots received their flight plan, they just followed the same route they did the day before. And they ended up somewhere they weren't even supposed to be.

[7:23] And as if that wasn't bad enough, the passengers had to wait another two and a half hours on the tarmac while the pilot and crew, as you can imagine, had to sort all that mess out.

[7:35] Let me ask you this tonight. Show of hands, have any of you ever arrived at the wrong destination? Anybody like ended up somewhere you weren't supposed to be? Like you know that feeling when you are somewhere and you didn't intend to be there?

[7:50] Maybe for you, it wasn't like a flight mistake. Maybe for you, it was like you went hiking and somewhere in the journey, you ended somewhere and you had no clue at all where you were.

[8:01] Or maybe you started out like cooking something and the finished product was anything but edible, right? Maybe you pull for a team that every year is certain the destination is the Super Bowl and yet never seemed to arrive at that destination.

[8:19] It's early, it's a new season, right? There's hope. And are all of us, for sure in one way or another, you've experienced the bad GPS. Very good. No classic, right?

[8:30] And maybe you've never ended up in a lake, but I promise you in one way or another, can't you relate to that feeling of ending up in the wrong destination? Maybe for you, that was traveling.

[8:41] Maybe that was a relationship. Maybe that was a business adventure you set out on and you ended up somewhere you didn't think you'd be. But all of us can relate to that feeling. And you say, what are you getting at?

[8:53] There's actually something I want to address tonight that's another situation where I feel like in my biblical opinion that far too often we end up in the wrong destination.

[9:07] I'm talking about Christian preaching. And don't misunderstand me. I'm not here tonight to be critical of anybody. I'm not going to name names or call out people.

[9:17] And let's be clear on this. I am far from a perfect preacher and you should say amen to that. Thank you so much. That makes me feel really, really good.

[9:28] Like, y'all really said that pretty loud. Anyways, my point is that what I often hear today discussed as Christian preaching falls short of the destination.

[9:43] It doesn't get people where they're supposed to be. And one of the gifts of God's grace here in the book of Acts is that we have sermons.

[9:58] In fact, Peter preaches one in Acts chapter 2. What we just read a few moments ago here in Acts chapter 3 is another sermon. And so, in other words, what God is giving us by His grace is a picture not just, listen to me, the calling of the mission that we're to be witnesses, not just the scope of the mission that it's to go to all nations, not just the power of the mission that the name of Jesus can change your life and the power of the Holy Spirit, not just the impact of the nation of watching lives be transformed like the lame man, but listen to me very closely, God is also giving us the message of the mission.

[10:38] What is it we are to proclaim? And it is important for us, it is certainly important for me as a preacher to make sure God's people get to the right destination.

[10:51] So let me ask you this, I'm almost afraid what you're going to answer, but please don't answer this out loud. What makes a good sermon? What makes a good sermon?

[11:04] Or another way of asking it is what is the destination of preaching? Is it entertaining illustrations like people that arrive at the wrong destination for a flight? Is it the use of good media?

[11:16] Do you expect that a sermon deep theology or personal development or do you expect to increase in some way in your Bible knowledge? Do you want to feel inspired or better about yourself as a result of listening to a sermon?

[11:32] Do you want, when you come into a sermon, do you want practical things for you to do in your daily life? Like what makes a good sermon for you?

[11:45] Because I would suggest that even if you got all of those, if you got in a sermon entertaining illustrations and good use of media and deep theology and personal development and increase in Bible knowledge and you feel really inspired and better about yourself and now you feel hopeful and you got practical tips that you can go do on Monday morning, you still haven't arrived at the destination.

[12:10] Because those things are not the aim of Christian preaching. Here's how the Apostle Paul says it and Peter's sermon will be an example of it. Notice here Colossians 1, 28.

[12:23] Him we proclaim. Christ we proclaim. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

[12:38] Notice this on the screen, faith family. The aim of Christian preaching is not to give some principles to live by. The aim of Christian preaching is to give you a person to follow.

[12:52] Why are you looking at me so strangely? I told you this was going to be a different sermon but you need to hear it and I need to preach it. The destination in any Christian proclamation is the person of Jesus Christ which means when you hear a sermon if Jesus is not the one to whom the message points you have not heard a Christian sermon.

[13:19] You may have heard an entertaining talk. You may have heard something that is helpful in your life. I'm not saying that it's not useful or helpful in any way. I'm saying it is not the message of the mission which is what God shows us here through the Apostle Peter.

[13:36] And of course here's the pushback that I know I'll receive when I preach this kind of a thing is somebody's going to say yeah but that's not very practical. I mean listen I'm all for hearing about Jesus but listen pastor I'm here to listen to a message that will help my marriage that will help me in my finances.

[13:56] You don't understand I'm grieving because my spouse just passed away. I need help raising kids. Don't misunderstand me. I want to hear about Jesus but I need help.

[14:09] To which I would say you're right you need help. I know some of you you need a lot of help. Okay and I need help too. Go ahead and amen that while you're at amening things about me.

[14:20] Alright but here's the good news you don't have to choose between getting the help you need and hearing about Christ. Do you know why?

[14:31] Notice it on the screen. Jesus is the help you need. He is what you're after. He is the answer to your solution.

[14:43] Listen if giving practical steps on how to solve your problems would help you and solve your issues Jesus would not have needed to die on the cross.

[14:54] Not to mention the fact that in the Old Testament God gave Israel a list of practical things to follow how'd that turn out? Didn't work did it?

[15:06] In other words you don't need a list to follow you need a person to follow and in following Him He will help you conform you change you and rescue you from your struggles.

[15:22] Are you with me? That's my thesis that I'm going to prove from this text. namely that Christ is the destination of Christian preaching and that the preaching of Christ is actually what solves your issues and I'm going to argue both of those things from Peter's sermon here in Acts 3.

[15:43] I'm going to do it by looking at two things one the message preached that is the sermon that Peter gives and then secondly the miracle that's performed that's here in Acts 3 as well.

[15:55] So first let's look at the message that Peter preaches. He does really primarily three main things here. Number one is he proclaims who Jesus is.

[16:06] Now specifically he's going to show us how there's so much I want to say tonight. Like if I tease about preaching three hours this could turn into that there's so much here but I'm going to try to stay focused.

[16:21] Who Jesus is as it relates to how he fulfills the Old Testament. Number two he's going to proclaim what Jesus has done that is the gospel his life his death his resurrection and his ascension and thirdly what Jesus offers.

[16:37] So if you want a little outline there's the outline. Who Jesus is what he's done and what he offers. Let's take that one by one. First who Jesus is. Look at verse 12 Acts 3 verse 12 and when Peter saw it he addressed the people that as he sees this crowd and he says men of Israel why do you wonder at this why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk.

[17:00] The God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.

[17:12] But you denied the holy and righteous one you asked for a murderer to be granted to you you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead to this we are witnesses jump down to verse 18 but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer and he thus fulfilled now jump to verse 22 Moses said the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your fathers you shall listen to him and whatever he tells you it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people and all the peoples who have spoken from Samuel and those that come after him also proclaim these days you're the sons of the prophets the covenant that God made with your father saying to Abraham and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed God raising up his servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning everyone from your own wickedness wow there are there's a lot in those verses that Peter is proclaiming about who

[18:13] Jesus is let me give you kind of the five main categories that Peter gives in terms of who Jesus is first Jesus is the servant of the Lord based on verse 13 and verse 26 now that's a reference to Isaiah chapter 52 and 53 where the prophet speaks of a coming servant of God servant of Yahweh who will suffer for his people and they will be healed through his suffering you know what passage I'm talking about that he will bear our griefs he will carry our sorrows he'll be pierced for our transgressions and by his wounds we will be healed Peter is saying that suffering servant of Isaiah is Jesus Jesus fulfills that number two Jesus is the Messiah verse 14 that phrase holy and righteous one is an Old Testament phrase that refers to the coming Messiah so the one to whom all the Old Testament has been looking for and longing for and waiting for that

[19:18] Messiah that anointed one of God is Jesus number three Jesus is the author of life verse 15 the claim here is to the deity of Jesus that is Jesus is the creator of all things John says this in John chapter 1 that in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was God and by him were all things made and there isn't anything that's been made that wasn't made by Jesus he is the author of life itself number four Jesus is the prophet of God verse 22 and 23 Peter refers to the prophet spoken of that would come after Moses a prophet that would even be greater than Moses in fact if you don't listen to what this prophet says you will not be a part of the people of God who is that prophet that speaks on behalf of God that is a thus saith the Lord messenger in fact if you hear him you've heard the father if you see him you've seen the father who is it

[20:34] Jesus he is the greater Moses the prophet of God I'm far more excited than the looks I'm getting number five Jesus is the promised son of Abraham verse 25 Abraham was given a promise and through this offspring through this seed all the nations listen all the nations will be blessed what book of the Bible does that sound like the book of Acts this is going to all the nations salvation seen in that first fruit of speaking in tongues speaking in languages this is now going to go to everybody everywhere and we are going to make disciples of all nations that offspring that would be the blessing to every nation is Jesus what a sermon I ain't talking about mine I'm talking about Peter's alright Jesus is the servant promised through Isaiah he is the Messiah he's the author of life he's the prophet that was promised of God and he's the promised son of Abraham now if you really want to understand how amazing this sermon is you need to know a little bit of the context of the Jewish mind in Peter's day you see in

[21:51] Peter's day a Jewish mindset would have assumed that these things that I've just listed for you are you listening would have been different individuals not one person they would have been different people let me give you just one example of that you'll see it on the screen it's John chapter 1 John chapter 1 verse 19 this is with John the Baptist John 1 verse 19 notice the mindset here this is the testimony of John when they ask him this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and the Levites from Jerusalem here's what they asked who are you now watch this he confessed and did not deny but confessed Christ so I'm not the Christ I'm not the anointed one not the Messiah well they asked him well then what then are you Elijah and he said I'm not okay you're not the Christ you're not Elijah well then are you the prophet do you remember who

[22:54] Peter speaks about in Acts 3 are you that prophet that was promised and he said no in other words they have categories there's a Christ you're not him there's Elijah you're not him there's the prophet that was promised that would come after Moses you're not him in other words their categories are these are different people and what Peter is saying is Jesus fulfills them all everything everyone you've been looking for finds its fulfillment in one place the person of Jesus Christ and here's where that is really good news for us practically and I wrote this I think on Thursday and I can't wait to preach this notice this on the screen here's what this means for you practically Jesus is the one thing you've been searching for in many things Jesus is the one thing you've been searching for in many things here's what

[23:57] I mean some of you tried relationships to fulfill your need for acceptance and love you've tried vocation to fulfill your need for accomplishment you've tried romance to fulfill your need for pleasure you've tried money to fulfill your need for security but let me tell you what's amazing about Jesus you can actually fulfill all those things in one person and his name is Jesus Christ you see like the Jews you're looking for a lot of different things and the good news of the gospel is they all find their yes and amen in Jesus now you say where did Peter come up with all this did he just like all of a sudden graduate the University of Jerusalem and knew all this stuff no he had the best seminary!

[24:52] ever! listen to Luke 24 27 and beginning with Moses and all the prophets Jesus interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself these guys had 40 days seminary class with Jesus after the resurrection like wouldn't you want to just be like a camel outside the window or something listening in to Jesus taking the Old Testament and breaking it down and showing them oh you remember Moses the promise of David you remember what was said to Israel in the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 yeah all those things have now found their fulfillment in me that's what Peter is saying that's who Jesus is now the tangent I'd love to go on and I really don't have time to do it this is for the nerds in the room is this is really important to biblical interpretation it really most people

[25:53] I won't say most there are a good portion of people that don't treat the Old Testament the way the apostles treat the Old Testament and I'll just give you one example and you can be mad at me that's okay we'll talk later and hopefully still hug is that people will take Old Testament promises that were not fulfilled and they'll move them to their end times and they'll say that Israel is going to get this and David is going to get that and Jeremiah 31 the new covenant well that was given to Israel and that hasn't been fulfilled so that's for ethnic Israel in the future and Peter would say why are you bypassing Jesus what you're failing to see is what was promised to Abraham and promised to David and promised to Israel is fulfilled in one destination Jesus there isn't some longing for future Old Testament fulfillment he's already here that's what

[26:57] Peter's preaching you need to understand who Jesus is that's the aim of Peter's sermon number two not just who Jesus is but secondly what Jesus has done so here's who Jesus is he's all these things the Old Testament promised and here's what he did pick it up in verse 12 I'm just gonna I don't know how I'm gonna preach I'm just gonna let it go here we go verse I ain't even close to none verse 12 when Peter saw that he addressed the people men of Israel why do you wonder at this why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we've made him walk listen the God the God the God of Isaac God of Jacob the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate which he had decided to release him you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murder to be granted to you you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead to this we are witnesses over and over throughout the sermons in the book of

[28:08] Acts number one Jesus lived a sinless innocent life you say where are you getting that in the text he says Pilate was about to release him why because he knew he didn't do anything wrong he knew the man was innocent he knew the man was blameless he had committed no sin and Pilate knew it and that significant to the gospel is it not because I don't have a sinless life there's another place where you can amen and you don't either none of us have a sinless life so therefore the only way we're going to be reconciled with God is perfection must be given us and therefore Jesus was obedient in everything he did number two Jesus died on the cross that is he says Peter preaches here you crucified you murdered you killed the author of life listen

[29:10] Jesus died on the cross because of our sin amen he was our sin substitute on the cross the wages of sin is death there must be a punishment a sacrifice for our sins and Jesus was that number three Jesus rose from the dead he defeated death and he gives us victory through the power of God we have new life because he is risen he lived a perfect life he died for our sins he rose from the dead fourthly he ascended on high we often leave this one out that is he is the glorified servant he is seated at the right hand of God go study the book of Hebrews he is our great high priest who intercedes for us that's what he did this is who he is and this is what he done he lived a perfect life he died for your sins he rose from the dead and he ascended to the right hand of the father are you tracking with this sermon number three he proclaims what

[30:18] Jesus offers here's who Jesus is here's what Jesus has done and here's what he offers verse 19 repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out praise God and that times of refreshing may come upon from the presence of the Lord and that he may heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago three things that Jesus does for us here's who he is here's what he's done and here's what he offers you number one if you haven't been excited yet get excited here he can remove your sin Peter says your sins can be blotted out think about that imagery blot something out to blot something out is to preach to us God remove all traces that something was even there think about that

[31:25] Jesus offers the kind of forgiveness that when you stand before God it is as if you have never sinned ever because you have been put in your account the very righteousness of Christ himself which means that no matter what you've done or how many times you've done it Jesus has blotted it out with blood you think about that he's washed it white with blood he has removed any trace of your sin whatsoever you say but you don't understand you don't understand my sin pastor you don't know what I've done I've done this or I've done that but stop and think about the sin that Peter mentions here the sin he mentions here is none other than the murdering of the author of life that's what Peter says to this crowd you murdered someone you know who it was the very author of life itself your sin crucified him and here this just hit me maybe this is what

[32:38] I wrote I don't remember what day I write so much during the week this hit me and it's just like yes yes yes this is the power of the cross look at it on the screen the result of the cross is big enough to forgive the reason for the cross now stop and think about that that hit me like a ton of bricks the reason for the cross is my sin I murdered the author of life because I sinned against God and yet the result of the cross is big enough for even that sin oh the result of the cross is far big enough to forgive the reason for the cross and that means whatever you've done or how many times you've done it if the cross is big enough to forgive your murdering of Jesus it is big enough to forgive anything else you've ever done and blot it out forever one person is like and that was only like two claps like

[33:55] I don't know if that was like I'm the only one clapping or what but mercy this is who Jesus is and this is what he's done and this is what he offers but we're not done with what he offers he not just will remove your sin but number two he can refresh your life see what Peter says there where he says he blots out your sin that times of refreshing may come this is beautiful notice it on the screen forgiveness allows you to rest like knowing that your sin is blotted out there's no trace of it of anything you've ever done or ever will do you have the very righteousness of Jesus he has blotted it out with his blood it is washed white as snow and because of that forgiveness guess what you can do you can rest you don't you don't have to work it off you don't have to hope you've done sabbath rest for the people of

[35:03] God knowing that it's finished this probably won't be as impressive but I wrote this and I thought this is kind of cool right listen the gospel allows you to rest in the hot tub of grace I was trying to think of like times of refreshing the gospel of grace the gospel allows you to rest in the hot tub of grace after exhaustion from good works think about there we go all right yes much better much better now think about the times of refreshing come because my sins are blotted out in other words I'm finally able to say it really is finished like I don't have to keep working for it I don't have to keep up the religious activity in hopes that maybe God will somehow love me I can rest in the hot tub of grace times of refreshment and rest because of what Jesus has offered me that's good news what a sermon amen not mine

[36:10] Peter's Peter's sermon he ain't done number three is Jesus will restore your future he speaks next of a day when all things will be restored and I mentioned this briefly last week that the work that Jesus has started now he will finish at the resurrection day all of creation longs for final restoration Paul says that he that began a good work in you will bring it to completion and so your past was one of condemnation your future is one of restoration that's listen faith family listen this message has at its center what is the message of the mission and it's not this it's not 12 steps to a better life it's not how to train godly pets just think on that one five ways to improve your finances which is a lot of sermons and I'm not the Lord is my witness I'm not coming at this with a critical heart here are three steps to a more enjoyable relationship or whatever and

[37:18] I'm telling you that Christian preaching has as its destination who Jesus is what Jesus has done and what he offers you amen and if you don't get to Jesus you don't have a Christian sermon because the message of the mission is a person not better financial situation it is Christ who we proclaim to which you'll say okay I get it I get it I think I get it but pastor I still have physical needs like I understand that Jesus can save me but listen what about my finances and what about my relationships and are there not some of you here probably all of you that you got something physically that's going on something circumstantially that's going on and you're like but I kind of would like to have those things met as well

[38:18] I'm so glad you asked verse six verse six but Peter said I have no silver and gold what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he took him by the right hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and leaping up he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God let me end by saying a few words about the miracle that's performed because to understand acts three rightly we we need to see how the miracle of the lame man verses 1-10 and the sermon Peter gives verses 11-26 are actually connected please listen closely here faith family Luke by the

[39:20] Holy Spirit is giving us an example of what happens when Christ is proclaimed what happens in a life when Jesus is the destination of what is being proclaimed that's the connection between the miracle itself and the sermon to which some of you would be saying but wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute the sermon comes after the miracle how can the miracle be a picture of what the sermon does if the sermon doesn't happen until after the miracle occurs to which I say you're so smart you're so smart and I'm so glad you're thinking that way because I know that's how you were thinking to which I want to point you to two very important things number one what did Peter and John proclaim to the lame man that gave him the power to walk answer Jesus he didn't give them five steps to better rehabilitation he gave them a person look at it again in verse six

[40:28] Peter said I don't have any silver or gold but what I do give you is this in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he took him by the hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong listen please come in close here like most of us when we come to church we come expecting!

[40:51] less than what God is ready to give let me say that again when you and I myself included when we come to church we are expecting far less than God is ready to give you want help with your life your physical situation your circumstances just like this lame man wanted money but Peter didn't give him practical steps on finances he proclaimed to him a person and what was the result of proclaiming the person of Jesus the man got more than money he got a restored life it's what I said earlier Jesus is the help you need in fact he's far more the help than you think you need don't come into a sermon about Christ expecting little when he is ready to give you much notice it on the screen proclaiming

[41:53] Jesus met his physical need more than providing him money now don't you dare use that as an excuse not to help people financially okay the application of that is not somebody needs help and you just say well here's a gospel track okay it is to say that somebody's ultimate need is not a temporary fix it is a restored life and only the person of Jesus can do that for them are you with me so that's the first thing here's the second thing you're like how many things you got hush number two what are miracles I'm almost done I promise what are miracles we did a whole series on this several months ago miracles are signs that is they point to something bigger than the event itself so what's the bigger picture of this miracle this lame man being healed notice it on the screen the restoration of the lame man is a sign of the salvation of the crowd it's not about the thing itself it's pointing you to something bigger that is this man's physical situation and its healing is a picture of something greater namely the salvation that comes in

[43:17] Jesus or think of it this way notice this on the screen as well the first example verses 1-10 proclaiming Jesus led the lame man to walk that's a sign of the bigger picture which is the sermon proclaiming Jesus causes dead people to live don't you see Jesus is the help you need you come in here thinking I just need to figure out my job situation I need a series on relationships pastor no you don't you need Jesus you need Jesus every single time you need Jesus and he is the help that your relationship or finances or whatever it may be needs so the point that I'm preaching this evening and then I'm done is that what you need most in a sermon is not practical solutions it's the power and person of

[44:21] Jesus and if you don't get that the sermon arrived at the wrong destination because the aim of the mission is to proclaim the person of Jesus Christ and if you would say to me as I close I'm not a preacher so this message clearly doesn't apply to me well first of all you listen to sermons well most of you listen you listen to sermons at least once every week you probably listen to others and I'm asking you to be more alert as to what's the destination of this sermon is it pointing me to Jesus that aside listen very closely it is the responsibility of every single one of you you may not be a professional preacher you may not be a vocational preacher but you are no less responsible for proclaiming Jesus wherever you go and so here's my question for you as

[45:23] I'm done what are you giving people are you just giving them practical advice are you just giving them an encouraging! conversation are you just kind of witnessing!

[45:35] or are you pointing! them in some way in some fashion to actually the only one who can help because if you are counseling that friend and their financial crisis and you don't in some way get them to Jesus you have not gotten them to the right destination who can actually help their life so this is for all of us as we are on mission for Christ that we remember that what we proclaim is not some principles what we proclaim is the person of Christ so listen having an airline flight take you to the wrong destination that may cost you some time but when a sermon takes you to the wrong destination that can cost you your life we need Jesus we need to know who he is and we need to know what he has done and we need to know what he offers us every day every week and every time we come to church and as long as

[46:46] I have any say at Faith Family only by the grace of God and you know I do not always get it right but by the grace of God this is and we know nothing but Christ and him crucified the one who for 33 years never lost sight of his destination the one who the Bible says at the right time arrived at his destination and he is the one that guarantees you will arrive at yours and all God's people said amen let's pray that was a sermon about a sermon so let's pray God help help us help help me I mean there's probably I won't say that but I know there's a lot for me to learn when it comes to the destination that I take your people here at Faith

[47:46] Family on every week so thank you for what you've taught me and even preparing this that I can have great illustrations and people can laugh and we at the end of the day if we don't get to Jesus we're in the wrong place because the message of the mission is Christ and him crucified risen from the dead seated at the right hand of God interceding for us and Lord when we begin to realize that what we're longing for and all these other things in life is actually found in that one place that one person of Jesus then we start getting the help we need and like the lame man although it might not be physical transformation it might be transformation in our perspective but in one way or the other the gospel always transforms So I pray as we sang earlier that we would stand in the gospel of

[48:50] Christ what we preach what we declare what we're about is pointing people to Jesus and we're going to do that right now God as we remember through the Lord's Supper what Jesus has done for us and what he offers us through salvation we pray in Christ's name Amen to If