Howdy, Pastor Mark here.
I wanted to say thanks for tuning in and joining us for our sermon series.
We're currently in the Book of Acts.
We're actually going to take a chunk every year after Easter
for the next number of years.
And for those of you who pray for me or for us,
those of you who give to the church, want to say thank you very, very much.
For those of you who'd like to get connected
and be part of the extended Mars Hill family,
go to marshill.com/global, we'll sign you up for a "connect" account.
That'll get you some free resources
and allow you to know what's going on at Mars Hill.
In addition you can also find the study guide for the "Acts" series.
It was put together by a team right here at Mars Hill church.
We've made it very inexpensive.
Any of the proceeds come back to the church, not to me.
And we'd love to have you do a deep study
with us through the Book of Acts.
So we love you, we appreciate you, thank you,
and thanks for signing up for a global account.
Howdy, Mars Hill. Pastor Mark here.
I'm really excited to introduce Pastor Dave Bruskas.
Many of you know him and love him.
He's our teaching and network pastor.
All of the lead pastors have as their pastor
Pastor Dave Bruskas, and he oversees
all of the ministry side of Mars Hill Church.
He's got a beautiful family.
His wife, Kara, is a sweet friend to Grace.
We love and enjoy her very much. And they have got absolutely
adorable, sweet, happy, cute, godly daughters.
This is a beautiful family.
Pastor Dave is very much a blessing.
He has pastored at a great number
of very successful churches.
He's been involved in some church plants as well,
and he planted City on a Hill Church
some years ago in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
And as we got to know Pastor Dave,
it seemed like they should become a Mars Hill Church,
and they took that step in becoming Mars Hill Albuquerque.
And so that was our first out-of-state Mars Hill Church
which has paved the way for Orange County,
Portland, and, we hope and pray, others to come.
Pastor Dave has since joined the senior leadership of Mars Hill
as an executive pastor, along with Pastor Sutton Turner
and myself. And together, we're the three amigos
that are always together doing something
and traveling and loving and serving
and working on Mars Hill, 'cause you guys are the best,
and we want the best for you.
And so, I'm very honored to have Pastor Dave teach.
He's a very gifted Bible teacher,
formally theologically trained, lots and lots of years
in the pulpit, and won the preaching award
at Dallas Theological Seminary
as the finest preacher in his graduating class--
from a school that is known for producing
a lot of good Bible teachers.
He's a humble man.
He's a man that I love and trust.
He's a man that I consider a very dear friend.
And over the years, I have been, quite frankly,
hesitant to have people preach across all of Mars Hill
for a variety of reasons,
not least of which is, I wanted to know that
they loved you with a father's love and they were committed
to you and not just using you to build a platform for themselves.
Pastor Dave's heart is a father's heart.
He loves you very much.
He serves tirelessly for the well-being of our church,
and I trust him.
And so, it's a real honor today to have him teach,
and I would just encourage you to give him your attention,
to keep your ears open, to keep your Bible open, and see what
the Holy Spirit would have for you through my friend
and your pastor, Dave Bruskas.
What does Jesus' mission look like here?
What's his mission here?
What does Jesus' mission look like here?
What is Jesus' mission here?
How do I know what Jesus' mission is?
At Mars Hill Church,
we love Spirit-empowered preaching.
At Mars Hill Church, we love Spirit-empowered preaching
because through it,
non-Christians become Christians.
At Mars Hill Church, we love Spirit-empowered preaching
because through it, non-Christians become Christians
and Christians become more like Jesus.
At Mars Hill Church, we love Spirit-empowered preaching
because through it, non-Christians become
Christians, Christians become more like Jesus,
and the mission of Jesus moves forward.
At Mars Hill Church, we love Spirit-empowered preaching.
But what exactly is Spirit-empowered preaching?
I'm so glad you asked that question,
because we are going to spend our day today
talking and discussing and defining
Spirit-empowered preaching.
I want to invite you again to turn in your Bibles
to Acts chapter 2.
We are going to look at the very first sermon ever preached
in the New Testament church.
Interesting today that we're going to listen to a sermon
about another sermon, and as we continue our series
in the book of Acts
and the mission of Jesus is unfolded through
the empowering of the Holy Spirit,
I want us to look at the distinguishing marks,
the distinguishing characteristics,
of Spirit-empowered preaching.
Before we do anything else, how about we stop and pray
and I invite the Holy Spirit to empower this message?
Will you pray with me?
Father, you are a good, kind Father.
You love us with all the love that you have
for your Son Jesus.
Father, you're the one who called this meeting today,
and you're the one who has gathered us, and we thank you.
Jesus, thank you that you being eternally God,
you being worthy of worship, that you being without beginning
or end, you humbled yourself and you came into our world.
You were born into your world.
You walked our earth.
Jesus, you lived the only perfect life that's ever been lived,
and you died an unjust death.
You took our sin upon you, and you absorbed the wrath
that we deserve to experience, and you died on the cross,
and you were buried.
Oh, but Lord Jesus, thank you
that you didn't stay in the grave.
Thank you that you are risen from the dead,
that you've conquered sin and Satan and death,
and you're at the right hand of the Father this morning.
You are worthy of all our worship.
Father and Son, thank you for sending the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, I first pray that you would empower the preaching
of your Word this morning.
Holy Spirit, I pray that you would take those who are with us
who don't yet know Jesus, introduce them to Jesus.
I pray for those of us who know Jesus, that through
the proclamation of the Bible, you will become more like Jesus.
Holy Spirit, I pray that you would empower the mission of
Jesus, that it may move forward in our time, in our day,
in our age, in our world.
All this we ask, for the glory of Jesus and his good name, amen.
Look, if you will, at Acts chapter 2.
We're going to begin in verse 14.
Let me give you some background so that you will know exactly
what just happened.
As we studied last week in the book of Acts,
Jesus told his disciples, and he told them about the mission
they were going to go on. Then he asked them to pray
and wait for the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit has now come upon them in power.
It's Pentecost.
It's a religious festival in Jerusalem where the devout Jews
from all over the Middle East have gathered.
Many pilgrims have come to Jerusalem, and as the Holy Spirit
was poured out upon the disciples of Jesus,
120 in all, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
And as they were filled with the Holy Spirit,
they began to speak in known languages,
the languages that represented the native tongues
of all the pilgrims.
And so, this amazing scene has unfolded.
It's a chaotic scene.
It's a confusing scene, and there are those who are observing this
scene, looking and are convinced that something supernatural
is happening.
As in every crowd, there are cynics watching this unfold
and they have concluded that those who are being filled by
the Holy Spirit are merely drunk.
They're watching a mob become drunk.
And then there are those who are just confused.
So, in the midst of that chaos, in the midst of that confusion,
the Apostle Peter stands up, and he begins to preach.
Acts chapter 2, verse 14--I want you to see as we begin to define
what is Spirit-empowered preaching,
that Spirit-empowered preaching is first biblical.
"But Peter, standing with the eleven,
"lifted up his voice and addressed them:
"'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,
"'let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.
"'For these people are not drunk, as you suppose,
since it is only the third hour of the day.'"
Peter begins with reason explaining what's going on,
and he makes the claim since it's only the third hour
of the day, 9 a.m. in Jerusalem,
these people can't be drunk.
Now, in my hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
that's not a very convincing statement.
I love you, Albuquerque, but you know how you are.
But in Jerusalem, it'd be quite unusual,
especially during this festival of Pentecost, to see drunk people
walking around, particularly at 9 a.m.,
because at 9 a.m. prayers began.
Official prayers began, and most pilgrims and most adherents to
Judaism didn't even eat until after the morning prayers
were finished.
But now Peter is going to move from a rational argument
to a biblical argument.
He's going to explain exactly what's happening
through the lens of the Bible.
Verse 16, "But this is what was uttered through
the prophet Joel"--and he quotes directly Joel chapter 2--
"And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
"I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
"and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
"and your young men shall see visions,
"and your old men shall dream dreams;
"even on my male servants and female servants in those days
"I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
"And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs
"on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
"the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood,
"before the day of the Lord comes,
"that great and magnificent day.
"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved."
Peter takes in this scene that's unfolding in front of him,
this controversial, chaotic, confusing scene,
and he explains it through the lens of the Bible.
Spirit-empowered preaching is biblical.
The Holy Spirit loves the Bible.
The Holy Spirit, according to the Bible,
has two roles in the Bible.
First of all, he's inspired the Bible.
It's through the ministry of the Holy Spirit that human authors
record the words of the Bible and Scripture teaches us that
those words that are recorded are the very words of God.
So, the Holy Spirit is the one who inspires the Bible.
But the Holy Spirit also illuminates the Bible.
The Holy Spirit works among those who belong to Jesus
in such a way that when we read the Bible,
when we study the Bible,
when we speak and preach the Bible,
when we hear the Bible, the Bible makes sense.
And what Peter is doing is he's taking these unusual
circumstances that are unfolding and he's using the Bible
to interpret the experience.
That's important to know.
We don't interrupt the Bible through our own experience,
but instead, we allow the Bible to interpret our experience.
The reason we do this is because we live in
a very confusing world.
We have a distorted perspective that the Bible teaches that
everyone who was born after Adam and Eve is contaminated with sin
and rebellion and treason towards God and the residue
of our sin is that we live in a distorted reality.
Not only is our reality distorted,
there are demonic spirits who can take experiences
and then use them to confuse us.
And what we ultimately need is we need God to speak from his
perspective on what's reality and what's important.
And that's exactly what Peter is doing here.
What Peter is saying is,
"This is what the Bible said would happen."
The prophet Joel, who prophesied about 800 B.C.,
almost 900 years prior to this experience,
Peter is saying,
"This is exactly what the Bible said would happen.
"All that God has promised to his people
"is coming to fulfillment today in the Holy Spirit
being poured out."
He's saying to the people, "We're living in the last days.
"The last days have begun, and what you're seeing
is exactly what the Bible said would happen."
People are speaking in tongues.
People are filled with the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit isn't restricted
to any class of persons.
The Holy Spirit isn't specific to gender classes,
because women and men are prophesying.
The Holy Spirit isn't restricted to categories of socioeconomic
class, because servants, along with those who are wealthy,
are filled with the Holy Spirit and they're speaking in tongues.
The Holy Spirit isn't restricted to simply those who are older,
because the Holy Spirit is working and filling those
who are old and young.
And Peter explains the experience of what is happening
through the perspective of the Bible.
Peter is interpreting our experience through the Bible.
That's the essence of Spirit-empowered preaching.
I don't know about you, but I'm a kinesthetic learner, and if
I'm going to really devote my energies mentally to studying,
to writing, I have to be in a place
that's a little bit busy.
And I tend to study and read and write in coffee shops.
If you were to say to me, "Go in that room all by yourself
and focus and study and prepare to preach,"
you would be doing nothing other than condemning me
to take a nap.
That's all that would happen.
I need some kind of activity going around me to spur me on
to think deeply.
So, I'm in a coffee shop, and I'm working on a book I'm writing,
and I'm preparing for this message today
and happen to be eavesdropping--
I'm multitasking--
I'm eavesdropping on a conversation that's happening
at the table next to me: two preachers, go figure,
two preachers talking about the person and work of Jesus.
And quite honestly, it's fascinating because
they're coming from very different perspectives.
And at one point, one of the preachers is frustrated
to the point that he begins to push away from the table
and stand up, lean over the table
and says to the other preacher, "The Bible says--"
And at that point, the other preacher
listening to his argument puts his hand in his face
and says, "Stop there."
The other preacher says, "I don't believe the Bible."
What an impasse, right?
Where can that conversation go from there?
I even was even more attentive after that point.
How can you call yourself a preacher
and not believe in the Bible?
Because Spirit-empowered preaching ultimately
is biblical.
And we don't take ideas and thoughts
and fit them into the Bible.
We take the truth of the Bible, and we speak and we exposit
and we expand and we explain the Bible.
If you're not listening to preaching that is biblical,
you're not listening to Spirit-empowered preaching.
And if we're not listening to Spirit-empowered preaching,
then non-Christians are never going to become Christians,
and Christians are never going to become more and more
like Jesus, and the mission of Jesus
isn't going to move forward.
Peter starts from a biblical perspective and says,
"This is exactly what's happening.
It's from the Bible,"
and the Bible suddenly begins to interpret
the experience of those at Jerusalem in that day.
Then Peter takes it a step further.
Acts chapter 2, picking up in verse 22.
You're going to see that Spirit-empowered preaching
isn't only biblical:
Spirit-empowered preaching is Christological.
Let me explain.
"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth,
"a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders
"and signs that God did through him in your midst,
as you yourselves know"--in other words, he's speaking
to those who actually physically saw Jesus.
They saw Jesus feed the hungry.
They saw Jesus heal the sick.
They saw Jesus raise the dead.
These are people that were eyewitnesses that saw Jesus
do things that no human being ever had done--
"This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan
"and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by
"the hands of lawless men.
"God raised him up, loosening the pangs of death,
"because it was not possible for him to be held.
“For David says concerning him"--more Bible,
this is from the Psalms now--
"'I saw the Lord always before me,
"'for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
"'therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
"'my flesh also will dwell in hope.
"'For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
"'or let your Holy One see corruption.
"'You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'"
Peter picks up his sermon-- "Brothers, I may say to you
"with confidence about the patriarch David that
"he both died and was buried,
and his tomb is with us to this day."
In other words, Peter is saying, this passage cannot be about
David only because David didn't rise from the grave:
David's bones are still on a tomb,
and we can go visit him there.
Verse 30, "Being therefore a prophet,
"and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him
"that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
he foresaw and spoke about
the resurrection"--circle that word--"the resurrection
"of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades,
"nor did his flesh see corruption.
"This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.
"Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God,
"and having received from the Father
"the promise of the Holy Spirit,
"he has poured out this that you yourselves
"are seeing and hearing.
"For David did not descend into the heavens,
"but he himself says, 'The Lord said to my Lord,
"'"Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies
your footstool."'"
Peter continues with the biblical teaching,
and now he's focused on the person of Jesus,
because Spirit-empowered preaching is biblical, but
Spirit-empowered preaching has a destination,
if it's truly going to be biblical,
and that destination ultimately falls upon the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what Peter is saying to this crowd that's gathered,
that's watching these phenomenal things happen is, in essence,
"This is all about Jesus."
And again, he works from the Bible to emphasize
the very essence of Jesus.
Jesus walked among us.
Jesus performed amazing things.
Jesus was unjustly executed, but Jesus didn't stay in the grave.
He's risen, and he's now at the right hand of the Father,
and he’s sent the Holy Spirit.
In essence, what the people are watching is the absolute proof
and attestation that Jesus is who he said he was--he's God.
Spirit-empowered preaching is Christological.
Ultimately if we're going to preach the Bible,
we're going to proclaim Jesus, because if every sermon and
every message doesn't end up on the person and work of Jesus,
it's not Spirit-empowered: it's something else.
And my deep concern about many of the sermons I listen to
today, and I listen to a ton of sermons from many different
perspectives, although a ton of people preach the Bible,
very few people preach Jesus.
Much of Christian preaching is merely principled living.
And you need to understand that the Bible isn't a book about
principles to live by:
the Bible is a book about the person to live for.
You see the difference?
The Bible, if it's preached accurately,
must ultimately fall upon
the person and work of Jesus Christ.
And any sermon that stops short of focusing on Jesus
is incomplete. It's inaccurate. It's unfinished.
Think of it this way: I'm not a very cultured person,
as you can probably tell by just listening to me speak,
but as Pastor Mark shared in the introduction video,
I've been blessed with a wife and four daughters that are
very artistic, very musical.
They love musical theater.
They just love it.
And so, in order to love them, I have to love the things that
they love, and I occasionally will go
and see musicals with them.
I've probably seen every one,
but I was holding out on "Les Mis."
I don't know why.
Heard it was a great story, but I thought,
I just don't want to see that, because quite frankly,
it sounds like it's a very long story.
And you tack in a 30-minute intermission
that doesn't make any sense to me at all,
and it's just an endless night.
So, I held out to the last moment--
until the movie came out, again.
And what compelled me was the thought of the gladiator
in a musical alongside the Wolverine, all right?
It doesn't get any better than that.
So, I had to go to the theater and I had to see "Les Mis"
with my family.
Now, if you know the story, you're familiar with the story,
it's an amazing story of redemption,
but what if I stopped the movie midway through and simply took
a single scene out of the movie?
So, imagine this scenario, I'm at the theater.
I stand up.
It's dark.
I take out my cell phone,
and because I'm becoming more and more technologically savvy,
I have that app that you download
that's the flashlight app.
And I turn it on so it illuminates my face--
not the strobe light, because that would be creepy,
or creepier.
And I say to the crowd, "Let me explain what's happening here.
"It's OK. As you were. I'm a pastor.
"I'm a Mars Hill pastor. It's going to be all right.
"Let me not waste any more of your time.
“Let me explain to you what's precisely happening here.
“And it's a low point in the film.
“And what's happening right now in the film is that Jean Valjean
“is being exposed of being an ex-con and his
“reputation is being ruined.
“And Fantine is dying slowly because she's given herself
“to a life of prostitution to support
“her illegitimate daughter.
“And Javert is triumphing 'cause he's all about the law
and justice.”
And I was to take that scene and I was to say,
"Let me explain to you the point of this movie:
"the point of this movie is if you obey the law,
"good things happen.
"If you keep the law, then things will go well for you.
"Look at Javert.
"But if you break the law and you're a criminal,
"then your life is condemned forever.
"Look at Jean Valjean.
"Or if you give yourself to immorality,
"things can never go right for you.
Look at Fantine."
I would totally miss the big picture, right?
'Cause what happens at the end of the movie--spoiler alert--
all right, what happens at the end of the movie,
roles are inverted.
Javert, the one who's lived his whole life by the law ultimately
is destroyed and he falls into the watery pit, right?
And everyone else's life, who had broken the law,
they find redemption.
They find grace.
They find mercy through God, and they are redeemed and restored.
You see what happens in the Bible
simply becomes principles to live by?
It's like taking a single scene out of "Les Mis"
and trying to explain the whole movie.
But there's a singular baseline in the Bible.
The Bible isn't about a thousand stories;
the Bible's about one story, and the baseline in the Bible
is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We love to preach Jesus at Mars Hill Church.
When I was the lead pastor at Mars Hill Albuquerque,
one of our deacons that was serving in Pro Tech took
a random sermon and before it played back, he said,
"Pastor Dave, I just want you to know that Pastor Mark mentions
"the name of Jesus 78 times today--57-minute sermon.
"On average, he mentioned the name of Jesus
more than once per minute."
Now, it wasn't simply because the name of Jesus is magical and
there's mojo in saying his name: it's that the person and work of
Jesus is the message of the Bible.
Spirit-empowered preaching is Christological
and if you're not hearing about the person and work of Jesus
in preaching, you're not listening to
Spirit-empowered preaching.
And if you're not listening to Spirit-empowered preaching,
then non-Christians aren't going to become Christians,
and Christians aren't going to become like Jesus,
and the movement of Jesus isn't going to move forward.
This story gets really good.
Back to Acts chapter 2, because not only is Spirit-empowered
preaching biblical,
not only is Spirit-empowered preaching
Christological, Spirit-empowered preaching is confrontational.
Verse 36, Peter continues, "Let all the house of Israel
"therefore know for certain that God has made him"--Jesus--
"both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified."
Wow, Peter goes for it.
Peter cuts loose.
Peter has spent the previous verses extolling Jesus,
elevating Jesus, talking about how Jesus isn't just any man,
Jesus is the God-man.
Jesus is the one who did things that no one has ever done.
Jesus couldn't be contained by death.
Jesus rose from the grave.
And then he goes far to say that the Trinitarian God,
the God of the Bible, has given to Jesus, the God-man,
the title of both Lord--
he's ruler of all, that's what that word means--
and Christ--he's the anointed one.
So, if you're listening to this sermon,
you're getting caught up in the greatness of Jesus,
all of a sudden, your heart is being drawn to Jesus,
then Peter hits you in the stomach and says,
"This great Jesus-- you killed him!"
It's as if Peter says, "I want you to take a timeout.
"I want you to go sit in the corner,
and I want you to think about that, mister:
you killed Jesus."
Spirit-empowered preaching is confrontational.
It's not merely informational; it's transformational.
And the only way that preaching can be transformational
is if it proclaims, first and foremost,
Jesus and his greatness and his glory,
then simultaneously reveals to us where our thoughts,
our words, our action, our attitudes are misaligned
with the person, work, of Jesus.
Do you realize, like these hearers in Jerusalem at
Pentecost, that your hands are covered with the blood of Jesus?
Peter could say these very same words to us today,
"You killed Jesus.
What are you gonna do about it?"
Let me ask you a simple question, Mars Hill:
do we experience confrontational preaching
at Mars Hill Church?
Now, before you answer that, let me give you a set-up question
that will give you the answer:
is the new pope Catholic?
Yes! Yes, we believe in confrontational preaching.
Week in and week out, primarily through Pastor Mark Driscoll,
he stands before us and he proclaims
the greatness of Jesus.
He's biblical in his preaching.
He's Christological in his preaching.
And then he's confrontational.
He calls us to deal with the discrepancy that exists
between the greatness of Jesus
and the way that you and I live life daily,
because Spirit-empowered preaching
must be confrontational.
It's not like reading a commentary that merely
exposits and explains the text so that we might be educated:
Spirit-empowered preaching is persuasive.
It's designed by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God
to move us to action, to have us make a decision.
Now, here's what I love about Mars Hill Church:
not only do those of us who attend here week in and week out
understand that Spirit-empowered preaching is confrontational,
those who watch what happens from the outside
see the same thing.
People that I love and deeply respect,
people like Pastor Matt Chandler,
who's going to be speaking at our Resurgence conference,
sees this at Mars Hill Church, and I respect him as much
as any preacher alive today.
Listen to what he has to say about it.
I got a great clip I want to show you.
Listen to pastor Matt Chandler talking about
the preaching ministry of Mars Hill Church.
Roll that, please.
. . . preach and teach the gospel.
And then here's the big one that we talked about earlier:
fulfill your ministry.
Early on in the process, what most guys do is they identify
somebody whose model is working.
So they'll go, "OK, Driscoll."
But can we--like Driscoll's a good friend of mine--
can we admit that he's just got a unique gift?
He just--it's really, really unique.
And I don't know anybody else I've ever been able to see
pull it off.
Like, I can't get up in front of the people at the Village
and go, "My sermon today is entitled,
"'I Think You're Stupid.'
I've got 13 points."
And then he goes through it, "Look, one is just simple:
you're just stupid; there's nothing behind it."
But OK, but let's be honest.
This is a Holy Spirit thing.
What happens when he does it?
Like, people get saved.
It's like, point one, "You're stupid."
And they're like, "Oh, God, I'm stupid."
All right, so now, when you listen to a bunch of Driscoll
and then come and get in your pulpits and go,
"Let me tell you people why you're stupid."
And then--OK, listen, fulfill your ministry.
Amen.
I can only show that when Pastor Mark is out, right?
Spirit-empowered preaching is confrontational.
If Spirit-empowered preaching is going to be biblical
and going to be Christological
and ultimately be transformational,
then it has to be confrontational.
And my great concern today, as we live in a culture
that's drifting day in and day out, further away from
Judeo-Christian principles, is that we are going to emphasize
being contextualized more than being confrontational.
And don't get me wrong, we believe in contextualizing
the gospel, but what our culture desperately needs to hear is
exactly what the listeners in Jerusalem heard:
Jesus is God!
Jesus is Lord!
Jesus is the Christ!
He's the one who's anointed to bring about God's
redemptive plan-- and you killed him!
What are you gonna do about that?
Last thing I want you to see in this sermon,
last characteristic that I believe from the sermon
defines Spirit-empowered preaching is this:
Spirit-empowered preaching is impactful.
Verse 38--excuse me, verse 37,
"Now when they heard this
"they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'"
That's the impact of Spirit-empowered preaching.
It goes right to the heart.
Suddenly confronted with the reality
that we have murdered the God-man Jesus,
our Creator, our Redeemer.
Our sin, our treason, our rebellion was ultimately
responsible for his murder.
We're cut to the heart.
Spirit-empowered preaching always goes right to the heart.
And this is a profound word that's used here,
this word "pierced in the heart" is the very same word that's
used in the Bible to depict what the soldier did to Jesus
to confirm his death when he pierced his side.
Maybe for some of you today, you've experienced that
right here, right now for the very first time.
You're convicted that you murdered Jesus,
that his blood is on your hands, and you're cut to the heart.
And much like the listeners in Jerusalem, you're crying out,
"What should we do?"
There's a man who began to attend Mars Hill Albuquerque
that many people knew.
He was a well-known radio personality.
He hosted the leading morning radio show
on the alternative rock station
in Albuquerque, and he began to attend,
and people began to say, "You should pray for Aaron."
And we were in the book of Luke, Pastor Mark was preaching, and
Aaron--Pastor Mark solicited input through The City on
if anybody had some painful, suffering experiences that
could illustrate a sermon, please share.
And Aaron got on The City and he posted his heartbreaking story
of not only losing his dad but losing brothers,
and you could tell that Aaron didn't yet know Jesus.
And you could tell from his words that Aaron actually felt,
rather than loved by God through Jesus, wounded.
And so, Aaron showed up that Sunday, and Pastor Mark preached
about Jesus and suffering.
And Aaron made his way towards me at the end of that gathering,
covered in tears, heartbroken, pierced through the heart,
simultaneously understanding two things,
that Aaron indeed was sinful,
that Aaron was estranged from a God who loved him
and was pursuing him in Jesus,
and simultaneously seeing that Jesus was the solution
to Aaron's sin problem.
And Aaron came up to me, and he could hardly speak
he was crying so hard,
and me being insightful and profound,
I simply looked at Aaron and said,
"Do you want to meet Jesus today?"
And he said, "Yeah," and Aaron met Jesus.
I want you to meet Jesus today.
I want the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God,
to do a work on your heart that, much like these hearers,
you are pierced to the heart.
It's as if someone stuck a spear in your heart, and you understand
for the first time the very glory and greatness of Jesus,
and you see, for the very first time, that it's your sin,
your treason, your rebellion that killed him.
And I want you to say like these listeners, "What should I do?"
Look at Peter's response.
Verse 38, "And Peter said to them,
"'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name
"'of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,
"'and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
"'For the promise is for you and for your children
"'and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God
calls to himself.'"
Peter tells him to do two things,
and it's very important that we dial this in.
It's very important that you understand the connection
between repentance and baptism.
Peter first says, "Repent."
Repent means to literally change your mind.
Repentance is a change of perspective.
I love what the great theologian, Wayne Grudem,
who will be here later this summer preaching right here
at Mars Hill, the way he defines repentance.
He defines it in a three-fold way.
Repentance is understanding through the mind that
you've transgressed against God, you've sinned against God,
and it's being remorseful, mentally.
But it's also a condition of the heart:
it's regretting your sin and turning from your sin
and having a desire to please Jesus.
But it's also a decision of the will--
"If I'm going in this direction.
"I'm going to stop and I'm going to turn back.
I'm gonna turn away from sin and turn towards Jesus."
And the Bible teaches us that that's a gift from God
in and of itself.
Will you repent today?
If you're cut to the heart, the Holy Spirit is doing his work,
because Jesus said he'll convict the world of sin.
The Holy Spirit is working hard.
"How do I respond to the work of the Holy Spirit?"
You repent.
You turn from sin and you trust in Jesus.
Then Peter says, "And be baptized."
This is potentially problematic, because you can look at this
passage and you can make two very different mistakes:
you can overemphasize baptism
and you can underemphasize baptism.
You can look at this text and say,
"OK, two things have to happen for my sin to be forgiven
"and for me to receive the Holy Spirit:
"first I have to repent, then I have to go through
the ritual act of baptism."
It's not what this verse is teaching.
As a matter of fact, Luke, who penned these words,
also wrote the Gospel of Luke.
The other times he connects repentance with
a forgiveness of sin,
there's no mention of baptism.
When Jesus talks about his message in Luke 24 going out,
he simply says, "The message is repentance and the result is
the forgiveness of sin."
This very same Peter is going to preach a sermon
in Acts chapter 3.
He talks about repentance and the result of repentance
is the forgiveness of sin.
Again, baptism isn't mentioned.
Stephen, the first martyr in the early church, in Acts chapter 5
preaches a very similar message.
He talks about the need for repentance and the result
of repentance is the forgiveness of sin.
When we interpret the Bible,
we understand the majority of passages,
and we interpret the minority passages
in light of the majority passages.
And there's a cause and effect
that's presented in the Bible.
The causative action here is repentance.
Repentance results in two things,
according to this text:
it results in the forgiveness of sin and receiving the gift
of the Holy Spirit.
It's as if Peter could have said,
"Repent and be forgiven of your sin
and receive the Holy Spirit."
That's the cause and the effect of that is publicly be baptized.
Baptism is really two things.
It's a statement and a symbol.
When you're baptized publicly, you are saying,
"I now belong to Jesus.
Jesus is Lord and Jesus is Christ."
It's also a symbol, because when you're baptized by immersion,
you're identifying with Jesus.
You're saying, "Just like Jesus, I'm dying.
"I'm going to the grave and I'm coming out of the grave.
"I'm rising out of the water, living out this new life.
I'm now united with Christ."
So the mistake we can make when we come to this passage is,
we can overemphasize baptism and think that
we have to be baptized or our sins aren't forgiven.
The Bible doesn't teach that.
It's only through grace through faith, grace through repentance.
Repentance is a gift of God and it's only the turning from sin
and trusting in Jesus that results in the forgiveness
of sin and receiving the Holy Spirit.
But some of you are going to underemphasize baptism.
You're not going to see the necessity to be baptized,
and you're gonna miss the point, too.
If you have repented of sin and, as a result of repenting of sin,
turning from sin, trusting in Jesus,
your sins have been forgiven. You've received the Holy Spirit.
You must be baptized.
You need to be baptized.
And I know there are some sitting here today
who've never been baptized.
Today's the day.
You'll never find a single example in all of Scripture
of a Christian who wasn't also baptized.
We came prepared today.
We've got a change of clothes for you.
We got a towel for you.
We got a discreet place for you to change.
Be baptized today.
Don't wait any longer.
If you've repented from sin, your sin has been forgiven,
you've received the Holy Spirit, right here, right now, today,
be baptized.
That's the biblical injunction to you.
That's the Word of the Holy Spirit to you.
Don't wait any longer.
Today's the day.
Look at the response.
Back to our text.
Verse 40, "And with many other words he bore witness
"and continued to exhort them, saying,
'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.'"
Verse 41, "So those who received his word were baptized,
and there were added that day about three thousand souls."
Wow, what an impactful sermon!
Spirit-empowered preaching is impactful.
Three thousand souls were added.
Last year, we experienced the greatest year of growth
that we've ever experienced at Mars Hill Church, where
we added 3,000 new people in the course of a year,
spread out over 14 churches.
In a single day, the church went from 120 to 3,120.
That's the impact of Spirit-empowered preaching,
because Spirit-empowered preaching, through it,
non-Christians become Christians,
and Christians become more like Jesus,
and the movement of Jesus and the mission of Jesus
gains momentum.
Mars Hill Church, do we, week in and week out,
have the sheer pleasure of listening to
Spirit-empowered preaching, yes or no?
Yes.
What is the outcome of Spirit-empowered preaching?
Mission happens, a church is birthed, and that church grows
and expands, and lives are transformed, and communities
are changed, and generations and legacies are altered.
Will you be a part of that?
As Pastor Mark shared with you in the video introduction,
I was a part of Mars Hill Albuquerque.
Week in and week out, as we became Mars Hill Church,
we had the benefit of hearing Spirit-empowered preaching.
Lives were changed.
Non-Christians became Christians.
Over 500 people in Albuquerque have been baptized in 3 years,
500 people.
Christians became more like Jesus.
People repented of sin.
Men began to take responsibility for their wives,
for their families.
Biggest issue in Albuquerque is men behaving badly.
Men began to change, Christian men,
and a movement began to take foot, and we began to include
Spanish subtitles.
And would you believe today that the work that Jesus is doing
through Spirit-empowered preaching
at Mars Hill Albuquerque
is spilling over and crossing borders.
We have, on a regular occurrence,
pastors coming up from Mexico, driving hours and hours on their
one Sunday off a year, to be at Mars Hill,
simply to serve on the hospitality team,
because Jesus is changing lives.
I want you to be a part of that.
What can you do today?
How do you respond to Spirit-empowered preaching?
Three things, four things, yay, speaking in Proverbs today.
First, be forgiven.
I want you to repent.
I want you to see clearly the greatness of Jesus.
Then I want you, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
to see where your life is misaligned with the person
and work of Jesus, and I want you to turn from that sin,
and I want you to trust Jesus.
Second thing I want to see you do is be filled with
the Holy Spirit.
It's through repentance that we not only receive
the Holy Spirit, but we become filled with the Holy Spirit.
Christian, there's no greater joy
this side of the kingdom of God
than being filled with the Holy Spirit.
May you be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I want you to be baptized.
If you've not been baptized, don't wait another day.
Right here, right now, the local lead pastors will explain to you
in just a moment how you can be baptized, right here, right now.
Fourth thing I want you to do is belong.
Pastor Mark will pick up these verses next week,
but here is the outcome of this message:
people repented from sin.
They were baptized.
They were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The church grew by 3,000 people and every day,
those people came together in a large group for worship,
then they would go into their homes.
They would meet large group, small group.
I want you to belong to Mars Hill Church.
I want you to come here Sunday in and Sunday out.
As we look at our attendance numbers week in and week out,
here's something that's a little bit perplexing:
we can see new people are constantly coming through
the door, but we can see that our attendance numbers aren't
increasing in a proportionate number, so what we're estimating
is that many of us don't come on Sunday consistently.
I want you to be here on Sunday because when you're here
and Spirit-empowered preaching happens,
while you're gathered with the people of God,
the Holy Spirit manifests his presence in very unique
and encouraging and life-changing ways.
Don't miss out on that.
If you miss, I love that you go online and you listen
to the message--that's great-- and then you participate
in your Community Group.
But be here as often as you can because amazing things
are happening week in and week out.
Be in a Community Group.
Share with someone else the amazing things that
you're experiencing, the way that you're being transformed
through Spirit-empowering preaching.
Would you do that?
We're gonna respond now.
We're gonna respond to the person and work of Jesus.
We're gonna respond by collecting an offering.
We're gonna respond by celebrating Communion.
And in Communion what we do,
once again, is we remind ourselves,
through the bread and the wine
that it's through Jesus' shed blood,
it's through Jesus' broken body that we have
the forgiveness of sin.
We're gonna sing loud.
Some of us are gonna be baptized.
I want to invite our financial stewards to come forward,
and as they're coming forward today,
I want to show you something that
you're going to be excited about.
I want to show you what Jesus is doing at
Mars Hill Church Bellevue.
So as they're coming forward, I want you to see what's happening
at Mars Hill Bellevue.
Howdy, Pastor Mark here at Mars Hill Bellevue with
Pastor Thomas Hurst, and we're about an hour before church
gets started.
It gets started real early here today. I thought it'd be cool
to let folks see a little bit of where we meet on Sundays here in
Bellevue and hear a little bit about what's going on with
the Hurst family and also what's going on with the family
here at Mars Hill Bellevue.
So, maybe start with your family. You guys got good news recently.
Yeah, we did.
Got some great news that right now Angie is clear of cancer.
So your wife got diagnosed with cancer, how long ago?
It'll be a year in July.
OK, and that was traumatic 'cause she's super healthy.
You guys didn't expect anything.
She's pregnant and you're expecting to have another
healthy baby, and she goes in and finds out she's got cancer.
Yeah.
And that was certainly a incredibly difficult time,
but God continues to bless us through that.
The church family has rallied around us and really shown us
the love of God just through the way that they've served us,
and loved us and prayed for us and cared for us so--
But after her treatment,
she's doing good. So, there's your family
and around that is the Mars Hill Bellevue family.
What's going on here and what are you expecting to see
in the future?
Well, I would tell you that if I could sum it up in a word,
it'd be explosion.
We're now at four services.
People continue to come to this church,
be a part of this church, and grow in this church.
And just like the city around us,
Bellevue's just an exciting place.
So much is happening.
In the last 10 years, we've seen the--we've seen people
who are 18 or less, triple.
We've seen 176% growth in the population here in Bellevue,
and I think one of the most exciting things we've seen is
we've seen the median age in the last 10 years in Bellevue
go from 57 to 34.
And our church is really starting to represent that.
We're seeing a lot of different types of people here,
different cultures of people, and we're really just outgrowing
this space, even within a year and a half.
And so, we're already looking for a permanent solution
somewhere here in the Bellevue area,
and so that's a great problem to have,
and so we're very fortunate.
Absolutely. Well, you're doing a great job.
We love you, and I know with the church exploding and then
also with Angie's battle with cancer and losing a baby,
it's been a very exhausting year for you.
We love you.
I mean, you guys are--you guys have been huge friends to Grace,
I, and the other leaders across the church for many years.
Anything people lastly could be just in prayer for you for?
You're carrying a really heavy, significant load.
Yeah.
Just continued prayer that, you know,
that I would just continue to persevere through this.
I mean, we've still got challenges to face at home
and we've still got, you know, things to fight through here at
the church and want to just continue to serve and love
and care for both the family and the congregation well.
Absolutely. Well, we love you.
Thank you, buddy.
Yeah. Thanks, brother.
Let's pray together and thank God, our Father.
Father, thank you that you have sought us out.
Thank you that you’ve brought us together.
Thank you for Jesus.
Jesus, thank you that through your life, your death,
your resurrection, we might be forgiven of sin through
repentance that you give to us.
Father and Son, thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit
to live in us, to fill us, to empower us.
Holy Spirit, I pray that everyone who needs to respond
today in repentance and in baptism will respond by
your enabling, all for the glory of Jesus.
In his great name we pray together, amen.
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