Unstoppable - The Birth of a Movement, Part 2

Do you ever feel like your spiritual life is dull, boring, irrelevant, like you're just kind of going through religious motions, but there's no real sense of power, of drive, of mission, adventure, possibility? Well, you know what?

That's not God's will. And if you want to find out how it can be different, stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians through the daily teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Druey. And I don't know about you, but I think we could all use more motivation in our spiritual walk. It's so easy to follow into a tiresome routine and miss out on the joy that he has for us. Finding that drive Chip just mentioned is where he's headed in this program as he continues his series, Unstoppable, God's Agenda for Planet Earth, including you. Just a quick reminder, if you miss a portion of this program, let me encourage you to download the Chip Ingram app.

It's a great way to catch up anytime. With that, here's Chip with part two of his message, The Birth of a Movement, from Acts chapter two. Question. What's keeping you from sharing his message? I mean, God placed you in a neighborhood. God placed you in a home or with a roommate.

He placed you in a job or at least out looking for one. And you are the answer to someone's biggest need, their eternity. It's you.

It's me. When you're at 24 hour or wherever you work out or when you're sitting in a coffee shop or when you're taking a walk with a dog in the neighborhood, God's placing people all around you who the Spirit of God has been preparing for a fellow failure like you and me who maybe doesn't know all that we should know to hear the message of life. Some of the reasons that people don't share is one, your network. You need to be like the very best friend of some people that believe absolutely the opposite of what you believe and whose morality is the opposite often of what you know is right and they experience someone who loves them for where they're at. They don't condone that stuff but they just scratch their head and think, man, I know where you're coming from.

Why would you love me? Second, you need to have intentionality. Some of us have a lot of Christian or non-Christian acquaintances and you need some intentionality. Where is this relationship going? And maybe you give them a CD or give them a book or you have a conversation and you ask more questions.

Ask where you're coming from and why and care about them. Third is maybe it's a confidence issue. Maybe you just don't really believe the powers in the gospel.

You think it's all on you. And then finally, this is the one and I'm ashamed to admit this because after all these years, it's just fear, the fear of man. The Bible says the fear of man is a snare but blessed, happy is the person who trusts in the Lord. I still have times where I realize this is an opportunity and like I'm really afraid of what this person is going to think of me or to be rejected. And then later I think, why? You're telling someone there's a God who cares and loves them, who died for them.

So what is it? I mean, and I realize it's just Paul said he wasn't ashamed. I think a lot of Christians are ashamed of the gospel. They kind of want to have this relationship over here but you know, don't want to go too public with this.

I'm glad someone went public and told me, aren't you? Third, the Holy Spirit implanted eternal life of Jesus within all who repented and believed Christ as Lord and Messiah. Jesus' wisdom, first he sends the Holy Spirit.

This phenomena occurs. Second, he places in the mouth of this failure who's uneducated this amazing message. And after he gives this amazing message, he reminds us that every one of us this week need to tell one person about Jesus.

At some point where every, just tell one person that Jesus loves them and cares for them and look for an opportunity as ever short or long as that may go. And then third, what happened was those people who heard the message and repented, the word just means to change your mind. Classical Greek it meant just intellectually to change your mind. By Koine Greek it meant to change your mind with a sense of sorrow that led to a change of behavior. So those people thought Jesus was just an itinerant preacher. They need to change their mind. He's the Messiah.

He's the hope of the world. Repentance is going down and thinking, my life goal is down 85 south and you're driving 85 south and God says you know what, you got the wrong life goal. It's 85 north.

You know what repentance is? You get off, go over the overpass, now you're on 85 north. You do a U-turn. God brought some of you in this room today to do a U-turn.

And whether you recognize it or not, you think success or just that person or enough money or this or that is gonna deliver the significance and security and make you a somebody. And God's saying, I brought you in this room to do a U-turn. I have already made you a somebody and I love you and I'll fill you with My Spirit and I'll give you life. But you gotta repent.

You gotta change your mind about Me. You gotta turn from your sin and you gotta believe and trust that what I've done. And then what He did, the Holy Spirit gets implanted inside of you. And it's the Spirit of Christ. In other words, before it was, you know Old Covenant, the Spirit, few people now, it's every single person who believes the Holy Spirit comes and the very life of Jesus, the life of Christ lives inside of you. And that's why in parentheses, did you see in your notes?

What did I write? The eternal life of Christ. See if Jesus, the Spirit of Christ is in you and Jesus is eternal, you now have eternal life.

From the moment you trust in Him forever and ever and ever. What the scripture says is that the moment you turn from your sin and trust in Him, you're justified by faith. And that means all the sin in your column gets deleted and all the righteousness of Christ gets imputed so that the God of heaven, the Father looks on you through what Christ has done and you're righteous in His sight and you're born again. So you know what's happened here? The church is born. The church is born.

In fact, listen, listen to what happens. Pick it up at verse 37. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart. Literally it means they were stung.

It was like being stunned with a gun. And they said to Peter, the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do? Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. And then with many other words, He warned them and He pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation and those who accepted His message were baptized and about 3,000 were added that day. And so what happened was the church is born and if you have the Spirit of God, you're a part of this new thing called the church. Romans 8 and 9 says, however, you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He doesn't belong to him. So if you don't have the Spirit of Christ living in you, you don't belong to Him. The second thing this happened is this was the Spirit's baptism. Remember He said, John will baptize with water. I will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul would later look back and say, for by one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greek, whether slave or free, we were all made to drink one Spirit. Baptism, the word has a literal meaning and a figurative meaning. Literally, the word just means to immerse or to dip.

Figuratively, it means to identify with someone. So if you are a non-Jew before all of this happened at Pentecost and say you were a Gentile and you met these Jews and they said, we serve the one true God Yahweh, if you wanted to become a Jew, you would come, you would actually baptize yourself saying my identity of my old past, my old culture is gone, I now want to follow and be a Jew. So when Peter is telling these people, repent, change your mind, and not that baptism saved them, he's saying your new identity, you need to go public.

And man, this would have been huge for them. And so now they're going to be baptized and have to declare that their former thinking was wrong and they're going to identify and literally be placed into this new supernatural community called the church. Here's the lesson. The lesson is that he that has the Son has life and he that has not the Son of God does not have life.

This is so clear. The apostle Paul, I mean this intellectual, one secular historian who wrote a history of mankind, describes the apostle Paul as the greatest intellect of that century. And Paul would say in Galatians 2-20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives within me. And this life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So the question today is, do you have the Son?

Not do you intellectually believe in God, not are you a moral person, I got news for you, not is there some philosophy and Christianity is one of the better ones. This is about relationship. If you have the Son, you have life. If you don't have the Son, you don't have life.

It's that simple and it's that clear. Later, John who wrote that in 1 John 5, 11, 12 would talk about this record. He said these things I have written to you so that you might know that you have eternal life. God wants you to know. So let me ask you, not do you quote believe in God, not are you a good moral person. I mean Peter was speaking to a group of people that probably their morality was just off the charts above most of ours.

Do you have the Son? Because you can only be made whole and perfect and forgiven in God's sight by having the blood of Christ cover you and him giving you as a gift the very righteousness of Christ. I grew up in the church for 18 years. Actually I left when I was about 15 because I couldn't take it.

The hypocrisy, the junk, the religiosity, the rules. The Christians I met unfortunately were some of the worst people I'd ever met so I didn't think God even existed. But when I began to explore what it really meant to have a relationship with God instead of quote church or Christianity and who Jesus really was, I discovered the truth. And the truth is God the Father, the triune, God of all the universe who made and created you and me and every human being on the face of the earth, he loves us. He's for you.

He's not down on you. He loves you and he sent his son to die in your place and to prove it that he would rise from the dead and he makes you an offer. And the offer is eternal life, the life of Jesus living inside of you. Requirement on your part of mine, repent, turn, empty hands of faith, Lord Jesus I accept your death payment for my sin, your resurrection the proof that it's true. Today will you come into my life?

For me that was 1972. Are you 100% sure at this moment that you have the son? And if not could we just stop? I mean I'll get the fourth point, I'll knock it out quick but I have to believe God brought multiple people in this room and the Spirit of God is going you need the son. You need the son today. And this is how your mind is going oh man if I need the son and I go this direction that U-turn, man I got an addiction over here, I'm living with someone over here, I got this issue going over here and I've cheated over here and tell you what, God will clean up your life, yours is a I'm turning from it.

You don't have the power to change. You ask the son to come into your life, forgive you for your sin, he'll give you the strength with God's people to deal with that stuff. Father right now as we stop you know every person that you've brought because you love them and you are prompting and speaking deeply in their heart and life and something inside of them is screaming despite all the conflict, I want the son, I want eternal life, I need to be forgiven. If that's you just in your heart would you just pray along with me? And it's not the words it's you talking to God saying dear father I admit today that I need you, I ask today that you would forgive me for all my sins. I believe and trust that you paid for my sin by Christ's death.

I believe and trust that his resurrection proved that is true. Will you come into my life right now? Will you make me your son, your daughter?

Lord thank you. Now give me strength and courage to follow Jesus in Christ's name. Literally millions of people around the world they prayed that prayer, they were sincere, the spirit of God came into their life and they heard somehow that's it, that's the big deal, that's not the big deal. That's like going into labor and having your wife have a baby and going okay we got that over with and you leave. I mean the baby just got born, when you're a spiritual baby you need the milk of God's word and the love of God's people, he's got a life ahead of you. And by the way can I tell you something instead of that stuff you hear on TV, it's really hard. Okay, it's really hard and it's awesome.

And it's really swimming upstream and it's blessed and the joy is unspeakable. And so once the spirit of God when you pray and ask the son to come into your life, he comes into your life and you're a new person, the old has passed away, everything becomes new. But now you have to learn like a little baby learns to walk and then learns to eat and then learns to grow.

He's going to conform you, he's going to make you like Jesus. Five years from now your friends will go what happened to you? Used to be a selfish creep like the rest of us.

I mean you hid it well, you were very sophisticated and you know you went to a great school so you hid it really well but you were a selfish creep like all of us. And you like care for people that no one cares about. Leads us to point number four, Jesus' spiritual body began doing what he did when he walked on the earth in his physical body.

See that's the game plan. The genius, the wisdom of God was when Jesus walked on the earth he not only revealed what God was like but here's a need and he meets the need and here's some people that need fed and he feeds them and here's some truth and he gives the truth and he lived and he loved in such a way and the wisdom was I'm going to leave and go to the father and the spirit of God is going to come inside every believer so we're not going to have one Jesus, we're going to have a thousand and then a million and then five million then twenty million then thirty million and you know what their job is? Their job is to stay connected to the father and keep their heart tender so we would live the way Jesus lived and we would do what Jesus did when he was here. So basically we're his spiritual body and that's why Jesus said the last night on the earth you will do greater works than I did.

Not quantitatively but qualitatively. There's a, if you're a Christ follower and his spirit lives in you, Jesus lives in your house. That means he's at your work.

That means he's in your neighborhood. You are the light of the world. Well how does it work? Here's how it works. What did they do? They did bio. They didn't call it that then. What did Jesus do when he was walking on the earth? He got before God didn't he? He went to the temple and he worshipped. He said I need to do life in community. Even the son of man so he had twelve guys that he did life with.

They didn't have some little bible studies. It wasn't like well Peter what answer did you get for question four? I mean they're doing life and it was you know Lord I'm struggling with this my mother-in-law is making me crazy and I'm really tempted with lust and what do I do with that and Jesus would say come on let's get in here guys and he taught them and then they're on mission. Okay you guys ready? You've learned enough. Two by two by two. Ready? Go for it. You go to those towns before I get there and here's the power.

I'll be right behind you. They lived before God. They did life in community and they were flat on mission. Look at verse forty-two.

They just began to do what he did while he was alive. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Before God in community that word fellowship we get koinonia. Apostles teaching the word before God. They prayed.

They're having meals together. This wasn't some religious group. These are people who are doing relationship with an eternal God living inside of them. Everyone was filled with a sense of awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were being done by the apostles and all the believers were together. They had everything in common selling their possessions and goods and they gave as anyone had need and every day they continued to meet together in the temple course.

This wasn't like a once a week duty. I mean they're doing life together and not just big meetings. They broke bread together in their homes and they ate together.

How? With glad and sincere hearts and they're praising God and thanking God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Non-Christians liked them. They weren't known for what they were against. They were known for how loving they were and then notice at the very end and the Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved.

How did it happen? It was the Spirit's filling ministry. They're filled with the Spirit.

We'll develop this later. The baptism of the Spirit is a one time event that occurs when you put your faith in Christ, pray to ask him to come into your life and you're baptized replacing the body of Christ. The filling of the Spirit happens multiple times. In fact in Ephesians 5-18 where it says do not be drunk with wine for that's dissipation but be filled with the Spirit. Don't think of a cup and water being poured in it.

Think of a sponge that is filled with something so when you push on the sponge it's what comes out. The word filling here means but be controlled by the Spirit. Allow the word of God and the truth of God and the Spirit to have his way so that instead of being selfish and self-centered and right-centered you become like this group. They were generous they were kind they were sharing.

Why? Because it was the Spirit of Christ living in them and the life of Christ living through them. So they were filled with the Spirit we're commanded to do that.

Here's the lesson is God's agenda for his people has not changed and his power is no less available today than it was then. But if I could give me and you a gift it would be that we would actually believe that. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you Jesus said and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. We're sitting in this room today because people actually believed it and did it and many of them gave their lives throughout the centuries.

Now think about this just do the math. God the Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead. God the Holy Spirit when you prayed to receive Christ entered your mortal body. Now he doesn't necessarily have control you can shut him off and you can quench it but if you'll let him as you renew your mind with his word as you do life in community with people he will fill you and give you the same supernatural power that the early disciples had and he then has an agenda for you. I mean isn't life more than just being successful and being self fulfilled and getting a good job and being upwardly mobile and hoping everything turns out and only to get to the end of your life and go I worked really hard I did this I had this crazy schedule I did this my kids got in these schools I finally got married you know what I got buffed up in my body and I had money for surgeries later when I got older so I still look kind of good and you know I'm crazy and I'm either plugging or watching or doing and get to be like 80 years old and go what a waste. This was all supposed to bring security and fulfillment and joy and I had to have pills to get up and pills to go to sleep and do you really want to do that?

Or do you want to do what God made you to do and placed you on this planet to do to change the world? Well what's your dream shouldn't you have something where if the spirit that raised Christ from the dead is inside of you shouldn't you expect him to do something supernatural in you and supernatural through you that you would like Peter go I can't believe this happened to a regular person like me. What's your dream? I want to challenge you if you don't have one ask God.

As we close let me share mine with you. I have a dream Lord that one day churches will be filled with warm caring non legalistic non self righteous authentic passionate followers of Jesus that the broken the irreligious the fallen the different and unlovely would be welcome there. The churches would measure success not by the size of their budgets the numbers in their flock or the beauty of their buildings but by the depth of their love. I'm dreaming the day when Christians would stay married when times are tough when forgiveness is sought and granted and predictable struggles would result in humbly coming to God and his word and a wise brother or sister for wisdom and help. I'm dreaming of a day when parents model holiness and purity and set boundaries for their children to protect them from the seductive world system that promises everything and delivers death. I'm dreaming of a day when parents eat together and laugh and tell stories of God's love at bedtime tickle each other to tears spill popcorn on the floor pray about tests and lost friends and lost neighbors and make their house the most exciting fun place to be on the block. I'm dreaming a day when Christians know their neighbors names and eat hamburgers in the backyard a day when we're known by our love. I'm dreaming the day when churches work together to paint schools and clean parks and build houses in the tough parts of town and refuse to care who gets the credit. I'm dreaming of a day when Christians will be known for what we're for more than what we're against. A day when prayer would be viewed as more powerful than politics and the people would be valued and treated with dignity even if what they believe is antithetical to all that we stand for. I'm dreaming of a day when Christians would cease to be so concerned about being cool and hip and cutting edge and relevant and simply be consistent and caring and committed to be like Jesus and do what he says. I'm dreaming of a day when nine out of ten Christians would think it abnormal and strange if they didn't come before God daily, do life in community and be on mission 24-7. This is a dream I can't shake. It's a dream that Christians everywhere in every culture in every church in every expression of Christ's church would simply live like Christians.

Maybe it's because it isn't my dream at all. It's Jesus' divine will and prayer for his church. It's what he meant when he taught us to pray. May thy will be done and thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. I just want to pause right here and you may have noticed that in the middle of the teaching I actually interrupted the message and shared the gospel. It was one of those times where literally I was teaching, I was looking out and I have these notes that I follow and I'm ready to move on. Literally the Holy Spirit arrested me and said, right now, stop, explain the gospel.

I have to believe because people in our church, in all those services, a number of them put their faith in Christ. I have to believe that of the hundreds of thousands of listeners, there's many of you that you heard that and something began to happen inside. It's like, okay, maybe I don't know what to do with it or what should I do. Here's what you do. You stop right now and you ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you of your sins and you receive eternal life. You, like never before, understand it's not about trying to be a good moral person or going to church or clean up your act. Remember the verse that I shared, he that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son of God does not have life. Then I love verse 13 of verse John chapter 5, these things I've written to you in order that you might know that you have eternal life.

Is that amazing? You can know that you have life right now. The Spirit of God will come into your life, forgive all your sins and a new life with Jesus living in you begins now and it will go on forever and ever and ever.

It's not just a length of life, it's a quality of life. Here's the moment of truth right now. Would you be willing, if you're able to bow your head and close your eyes, or if not driving, would you sort of bow your heart within you? Would you turn to God and just say, Lord, I repent.

I change my mind. I turn from my sin and being in control and what I think life ought to be and I want to ask you to forgive me, cleanse me of all my sin and come into my life. Today I believe that Jesus died in my place as my substitute and I receive you right now as my Savior. I believe you rose from the dead to prove who you are and what you've done and I ask you right now, make me your son, make me your daughter.

I want to tell you that as you pray that from your heart, the God of the universe has answered your prayer and your very next step is to thank him, call or text the best Christian that you know, and then find a church that really teaches the Bible and get plugged in as soon as possible. We congratulate you. We obviously have some things on our website that Dave will tell you about in terms of getting you started, but we are thrilled as we share this new life with you.

Thanks, Chip. I'm going to share that information in just a second. But you know, before I do, this series is all about the unstoppable wave of grace that brought thousands and thousands to faith in Christ. So what are we doing to help people share their faith and then help others who are new in their faith? Well, that's a great question, Dave.

And I have to tell you, it is why Living on the Edge exists. We want to help people connect with God, to grow in their faith, to learn to get from God's Word and in relationships with one another. And so we have books and videos, small group studies, devotionals, courses they can take online, and we even have an app where everything on it is free, where they can literally listen to messages or actually do a video study and I will meet with them personally, kind of mentor or disciple them. And then those who share their faith, then something happens. God works and someone comes to faith.

I mean, you're in a coffee shop and they pray to receive Christ and you say, now what do I do? Well, we want to help people get off to a good start and we want to help them grow. And so we've developed a great resource to help them grow in their faith. It explains what happens when a person trusts Christ. And then there's really basic answers to important Bible questions that every believer needs to know.

It's a very quick download from our website and here's the deal. We have 2,000 years of great history of the living Jesus by means of the Holy Spirit and Living on the Edge is here to help you grow and help new believers get off to a great start. Check it out.

Thanks, Chip. Well, whether you're a new believer or you're just curious about what Christianity is all about, let me encourage you to check out this resource. This New Believers tool is absolutely free and it will help you gain a clear biblical understanding of what it means to put your faith in Jesus. And that's our whole mission here at Living on the Edge, helping Christians really live like Christians.

So let us put this useful resource into your hands today. You can request it by calling 888-333-6003 or by visiting LivingOnTheEdge.org and then clicking on the New Believers button. Just before we close, let me say if Living on the Edge is making a difference in your life and you'd like others to receive the same blessing, we'd love to have you partner with us. Thanks to the generosity of a small group of friends of the ministry, every gift we receive between now and July 6th will be matched dollar for dollar. To send a gift, just go to LivingOnTheEdge.org, tap donate on the app, or give us a call at 888-333-6003. And let me thank you in advance for your support. Well, for all of us here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.