Jesus' Ministry, the Sequel [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. The sound of the Gospel. There's a sound. There's a sound when it's really the Gospel.

There is an echo that comes into the heart, and it's a beautiful sound. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Unlimited as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'm going to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

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That's 877-544-4860. Now, more on this later in the program, but right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. He came to establish a spiritual kingdom that's going to touch the whole world. It wasn't about just reestablishing the borders of this one nation. It wasn't just about restoring something that David had, but maybe in a little bit better way.

This is about the glory of an invisible kingdom that will never end and will be available to every single person on earth. And they just didn't get the story yet. You ever had a time like that? It was like you just didn't get it, or maybe you're somebody, they just didn't get the story.

I don't know why it came to mind. I was remembering a time that my wife and I had one of the, when we were in youth ministry, and one of the high schoolers, for some reason we had gone to see a movie. It starred Steve Martin and Daryl Hanna called Roxanne.

And we went to see the movie together. This is a story that is a retelling of the famous Cyrano de Bergerac story. Steve Martin plays the character with an unseemly and unusually large nose. And he really loves the character Roxanne, but assumes that she would never want him with his large nose. And so, as I remember it, Steve Martin I think is maybe a volunteer fireman or something. And there's an underling he has, a young man named Chris McConnell, who wants really to get to know Roxanne.

And so, Steve Martin's character, whose name is C.D. Bales, like Cyrano de Bergerac, and he starts coaching the young man and giving him all of the things that he should say to Roxanne. And Roxanne falls in love with the young man, but she's not really falling in love with him, because she's really falling in love with the things that you say him, but all of it had been fed to him by the Steve Martin character. And in the end, like the Cyrano de Bergerac, we realized that, you know, it's all about the matters of the heart and how superficial we can be about our looks and so forth. And we got done with the movie and we were talking about, I thought this is a good point of communication with this high school girl about what really matters in life and everything. I remember she just said, I just think that movie had been a lot better if they'd been able to fix his nose at the end. And my wife and I just looked at each other, just got a laugh. It was just like, okay, you just don't get the story.

We watched the same movie and you still think it's about the size of his nose. That's not what the story is. The disciples are like, we still think it's about you setting up a political throat. Jesus is just like, you don't understand. You don't understand the story. You realize that they don't understand the story in the way they act also and the things they say. You know, some by one perspective, Judas, some scholars think, betrayed Jesus because Jesus wanted to escalate the political throne of Israel and thought that this would consummate the conflict, so to speak.

And that maybe that's why he acted in such a rebellious way. James and John, the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus. They said, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever you ask. He said, what do you want me to do for you? And they said, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left and your glory.

They're vying for, honestly, for political positions here. You see this when John 18, when Peter, who is so passionate, right? But when they get ready to take Jesus away, he had a sword and he draws it out and he struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.

So Jesus had to say, put it away, put it away. What was Peter demonstrating? He's saying like, I don't, he's saying, I thought the story was about us taking control politically.

He didn't understand the story. You look at Jesus's earthly ministry, it started with preaching the kingdom. It's a story about the restoration of the kingdom.

It's about all that he taught, making it clear that this is a story that was about his ultimate rule and it started in Genesis. Well, the Sunday of the, of the simulcast of this message is appropriately, excitingly, Pentecost Sunday. What a great, there's no better day to start a series on the book of Acts than Pentecost. Pentecost doesn't get much attention, but arguably of Good Friday and Easter and Christmas and Pentecost, in some ways, Pentecost should be celebrated more than anything because this is the birth of the church of Jesus Christ and the flow and power of the Holy Spirit through the people of God who is with us forever. Pentecost comes from a Greek word that means fiftieth.

Penta means five, like you hear in words like the Pentagon, which has got five sides. And the roots of this go back to Leviticus chapter 23 where the feasts of Israel are described. And this is the feast that's in the center of the year.

It's a, it's a, it's a early summer. You shall count off seven full weeks from the day after Sabbath from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. So this is a description of when Pentecost happens. It's, it's after it's, it's seven full weeks after Passover and you shall count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. So then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. So basically to simplify this, Pentecost is called Pentecost because it's, it comes 50 days after the Passover.

That's the simplest way to put it. Now interestingly, the Jewish tradition, the rabbis recognized that this has probably its roots in the imagery of what happened at Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is where the people gathered at the base of this mountain and Moses went and met with God and brought back the law, brought back the revelation.

Let me just show you a few, few texts here about, about that. Exodus 19 one, on the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. So that is on the opening day of the third month is essentially to say that this is coming up on 50 days. But what happened is that Moses goes up on the mountain and there's all of this activity. If we look at verse 16, on the morning of the third day there were thundered and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. You're already beginning to see, you think about Acts chapter two where there's wind that's blowing and fire that's coming and tongues of fire.

And this has echoes of, of all of that in Acts chapter two where you see this suddenness and the rushing wind and it fills the house in the tongues of fire. So basically what happened was that you have these two events at Mount Sinai and then Pentecost at what's called Mount Zion, that's where Jerusalem is, both occurring on a mountain. The Israelites had left Egypt after that first Passover, 40 days later they arrived at Sinai. Moses went up on the mountain to meet with God and 10 days later Moses came down with the Torah, with the, with the law. So it was 50 days from the Passover and he brings down the revelation of God. What happened at Pentecost was Jesus had died the day after Passover, it's part of the Passover feast, and then 40 days later Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives and 10 days after Jesus then ascended the Holy Spirit came down. What's interesting is that at the, at Sinai when Moses came down with the Torah and the Israelites already broken the covenant with God, 3,000 people died. But when Jesus went to heaven from the Mount of Olives and the Holy Spirit came down, 3,000 people were saved.

So 50 days after sacrificing Passover lamb, the Israelites received the covenant from God and 50 days after sacrificing Jesus, our Passover lamb, we receive a new covenant that has been born in his blood. They're both events that are filled with fire and smoke, and in fact the Hebrew word translated thunder and exodus is a word that means voices or languages. The fire at Sinai was, it was visible by all. The fire at Pentecost was individual tongues of fire on every person. In other words, the Jewish rabbis realized that the celebration of the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost as that festival was called is really find its roots at Mount Sinai where what happened at that first Pentecost was the revelation of God was given to the people of God. And what happened at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to the church?

Yes, there's power and there are gifts and we're going to talk about tongues, we're going to talk about the gifts of the Spirit, we're talking about all that, but the primary thing that happened was that the Word of God began being proclaimed in all these different languages. All these people were gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecost festival and they're all there and they all of a sudden started hearing the Word of God proclaimed in their own language. In other words, it was God saying to us that this is what was foreshadowed at Mount Sinai. This is what was foreshadowed through the Feast of Weeks, through the Pentecost festival that's been celebrated for over a thousand years. This is the revelation of God coming to the people of God.

That's what Pentecost was all about and that is the story is one story started in Exodus spoken of in Leviticus and is fulfilled and continues in the book of Acts. That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife Anne lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple, grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.

Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Okay, so it's a sequel. It's a sequel because the main character is Jesus. It's a sequel because it's the same story. Hey, let me just mention this also. You know something that's always interesting, and you've got a sequel to something, especially in a movie or a TV series or something like that.

You can always count on this. You have the same theme music. Let's see if you can get this. All right, I'll just give you a chance.

Name that tune. Some of you, I'm just going to go ahead and give you a hint. There was an old one of these, and now they're doing a remake of it, and I've gotten so we're starting to watch it. All right, so you can get it. Anybody get it? Anybody get it? Anybody get it? It's Magnum, the old Magnum Tom Selleck, and now they got a new Magnum.

At first I wasn't sure I liked the new Magnum very much. I don't know if I could do it or not, but it's like there's nothing on TV. Ever notice that? There's nothing on TV. It's just like, so we're watching this. All right, let's see. Maybe one more just for fun. All right, this is like you need to be able to get this within two notes, all right, but I'm going to give it to you. Guess the theme. You know you got it. You got it. You got it. I feel like exercising right now, don't you?

Don't you? I feel like I feel stronger right now. You know of course it is Rocky Balboa, and so in other words, isn't it something how there's a sound that connects a sequel? My spiritual father Dudley Hall likes to speak of the sound of the gospel. There's a sound. There's a sound when it's really the gospel.

There is an echo that comes into the heart, and it's a beautiful sound. I remember many years ago a man who had grown up in a very legalistic tradition came to our church, and he said the first time he came, he said, I was just expecting more the same of what I always had heard about law and dead religion. He said, and you started preaching, and I love the image he used. He likes to hunt, and he said, when I see my hunting dogs, and suddenly they hear something, and maybe nobody, a human can't hear, but they hear it, and their ears perk up, and they look.

He said, I was like one of those dogs. As soon as you start talking, my ears perked up, and I was just listening. What he's saying was, I was hearing a sound, and I think what you'll realize as you study the book of Acts is it's the same sound in the gospel of Luke. It's the sound of the good news. It's the sound of what God has done for us in Jesus.

It's glorious. Let me just mention this final thing that makes sequels so fascinating, and this is maybe the most mind-bending part of the sequel of the book of Acts to Luke, and that is that new characters come in to join the main character for new adventures because the story isn't over, and though the main character remains Jesus, there are new characters, and believe it or not, that's you and me. Wait, he said in Jerusalem, Acts 1, 4, and 5. Wait there for the promise of the Father, he said, because you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

What was he saying? I want you to wait because you are going to be in the story, and you need my spirit within you, and so at verse 6, when they'd come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel, and he was essentially saying, that's not your business. That's not the right story.

Here's the real story. It's not for you to know the times of the season fixed by my own authority, he said, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come, and you will be my witnesses. He said, you're going to be the characters in this. And here's what's really exciting, as we learn in these opening chapters of Acts, is that anybody can be in this story.

This story is for anybody. In fact, when Peter preached the first Christian sermon in Acts chapter 2, he referenced the story of Joel and the prophecy of Joel. Acts chapter 2 verse 17, in the last days it shall be, God declares, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see vision, and your old men shall dream dreams, even on my male servants and female servants in those days, I'll pour up my spirit, and they shall prophesy.

This is for everybody, it's for Jew, it's for Gentile, for old, for young, for male, for female. And what happened was that you see, because the sequel has started, that the sequel includes all these new characters, and so that's what you begin to see, is the word of God is just spreading like wildfire. Acts 2 verse 41, it's a glorious thing, they were baptized and they're added that day, Pentecost day, 3,000. And then what you see in Acts 2, 46, is you start seeing that day by day they're attending the temple, they're breaking bread in their homes, they're fellowshiping, they're praising God, they're praying for one another, and the Lord is adding to their number day by day those who are being saved.

The thing I just love about the Holy Spirit is that He loves every person and is not a respecter of persons, and it doesn't matter what your past is, it doesn't matter the problems that you've had, it doesn't matter how much sin you've had in your life, it doesn't matter your stature in society, and none of that matters because the Holy Spirit has come so that anybody who will trust in the finished work of Christ would be filled with the very presence of God. Anybody, I almost wanted to call this sermon anybody anywhere, and you know what, during this very difficult time of pandemic, I thought we were going to have maybe two Sundays we'd shelter in place and we'd all be back and it'd be grand and now we realize there's going to be some sort of phasing back in eventually, but I think some wonderful things are happening and here's one of it. People are watching our online services and other church services and hearing the gospel all around the nation, all around the world, who might not normally hear. Well, they opened up the the barbershops, I went and got my hair cut, it was so awesome, I got a great clip that's right there near my house, I just said I'm gonna go get there, the wait was two hours, I went and checked in on the app, went over there 15 minutes ahead of time, stood outside the doors waiting, bumped into some of our parishioners out there, we're all in our masks, you gotta wait outside until they come and call you in, they said Alan we're ready for you, I was like whoa I feel like I've won the lottery, I'm getting a haircut here, I go in and give a haircut and it was a young lady I hadn't met before and so we're talking to one another, you know our masks on, she's gotten hair and I told her I was a pastor, she wanted to know how we're doing, I said yeah we're doing church online and she said you know what, she said, she said I don't get to church that often, she said but I've been watching my church online and she said I've got a stepdaughter that doesn't go to church and she's been watching with me, you know when I heard that I just, joy just came up, joy, in the middle of such a hard time I think the gospel's spreading, I think maybe the best thing that could happen is you to think about maybe there's somebody that didn't go to church that you might just invite them to come over and watch church with you, as we're thinking about how to phase back into any kind of normal, the gospel is spreading because the gospel goes through the people of God.

Well I was talking to my daughter Abby and I love books, I love good books, I love writing and I've never written any fiction, maybe someday, maybe someday, but I told her I said you know a dream of mine would be, I think maybe one of the greatest things I felt like I'd ever do, it wouldn't be so wonderful, I could write a sequel, write something, maybe a series, like the greatest thing would be like to write a series of novels that continue, I was thinking about C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, I was thinking we're just talking about how some of those things have helped shape the world and I was thinking oh that's just wonderful and then later I got away from it and I thought you know what, Lord thank you, that is what I get to do, every week I get to continue sequel after sequel of the acts of Jesus Christ and this is his principal act, Jesus came and lived a perfect sinless life, died on the cross in your place so that when you trust him you become a vital part of the story because you're not just saved meaning you go to heaven one day but you become part of a kingdom and he sends his own spirit, the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of you and you get to help in partnership with Jesus change the world, we call it the acts of the apostles but it should be called the acts of Jesus part two, that's the gospel. Alan Wright, today's good news message, Jesus's ministry the sequel, it's from our series Unlimited and thanks for taking the journey with us, we've got Pastor Alan back in the studio here in just a moment with our parting good news thought for the day, stick with us. In six video sessions Pastor Alan and his wife Anne lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace, you'll learn a simple grace-filled process that makes great communication easy, you'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration, you'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future, to help you grow when you order the video series we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide, whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage, make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God, we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries, call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastoralan.org. Back here now in the studio with Pastor Alan and our parting good news thought for the day and I love that the way you closed it out Pastor Alan, it should be called the Acts of Jesus part two, it really is a sequel. If you think of how encouraging this is Daniel, I like to say to our listeners what this means is that Jesus' ministry continues. You don't read about Jesus' ministry in the Bible and then go okay well that was neat to read about His ministry then, what you see is that the ministry of Jesus on display in the early church is the same ministry it's just He's not here physically, He's here by His Spirit, which means that everything that Jesus is and all that He does is still happening and that means that whatever it is that you need in your own life you can trust that Jesus is still at work through the body of Christ and that means through you. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.