Sunday Worship: The Promised Power

Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Are you going to do a lecture on that? You doing okay? Okay. He doesn't want anything except for me to hold him, which isn't working out. Okay. Good morning, everybody. We'll power through together. Maybe. Okay. Today, as we begin our worship together, I wanted to read the beginning of the psalm that we'll be reading together and talk about it. We're going to be reading from Psalm 111 today. So I'm going to read the first six verses of that. If you want to follow along, you can. "Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is His work, and His righteousness endures forever.

He has caused His wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear Him. He remembers His covenant forever. He has shown His people the power of His works and giving them the inheritance of the nations." And we'll read the rest together here in a little bit. This is referencing the promises of God and how He keeps them. And this week, one night this week, Penelope was asking me for about an hour to draw her a dragon. And I have no idea how to draw anything well. And she kept asking me and asking me and asking me, and it was right before bed. And I said, "I promise you I will draw one when you go to sleep." And so, they went to bed, they went to sleep. I was getting ready for bed, crawling into bed, and then I went, "Oh, I have to draw a dragon."

So, luckily we live at a time of YouTube, and I got on Art Hub, yes, this one site that we go for school, and stayed up for 30 extra minutes to draw a dragon. And when I was done, I put it on her dresser so she would have it when she woke up in the morning. And it made me feel happy to keep my promise. And when I think about that, and I think about how God delights in keeping his promises in verse 4, where he says, "He's caused his wondrous works to be remembered." You know, he delights in giving us the things that he's promised. And so, as I read verse 1 this morning, where it starts out with, "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart." I think about that phrase, "my whole heart," and I just think about all the things that my whole heart is not into.

Especially when it feels like he's not remembering his promises. So, when I contemplate times in my life, the hurts in my life, you know, where I feel like those have broken me or shaped me. One I'll share is when I experienced our miscarriage. And it was really difficult, and it's hard to give thanks with your whole heart when it feels like it's in multiple pieces. And I was just so thankful just to remember the promises of God and the Word of God. And when we think about the last verse of this psalm that we'll read together, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding." And sometimes it feels like the hurts in our life make no sense, like anything that's happened in our life,

anything that's happening around us in our world. But the one steady thing is the covenant that God has promised us. And you see it from the beginning to the end of the Bible. You know, brothers are murdering each other. Women are treated horribly. Women are barren that want kids. Children die. Husbands die. There's wars. There's famine. But the one thing we see throughout Scripture through studying it is that his covenant remains steady. And I wanted to share a quote from the devotional that's in this in this psalm study that I have. It says, "The Bible is a message of gracious redemption from start to finish. Scripture is not an advice column at the back of a newspaper. It's the front page declaring news of what God has done. He sent redemption to his people," referencing verse 9.

Yes, he did far more than the writer of Psalm 111 knew. The good news of the gospel is that God sent redemption in the tangible form of his own son as a fully human person to launch the renewal and consummation of all things through his life, death, and resurrection. And so, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever." I would just encourage you, as we read together today the verses we're going to read, just focus on that verse 10 because it doesn't say just blindly follow what someone says is truth. It says to practice, to know that you understand the wisdom of the Lord and what the Bible says that he's going to do what he says he's going to do.

So, if we want to stand together, we're going to be reading verses 7 through 10. If you want to join in reading that with me. If not, I would just encourage you to think about the words and encourage you this week to just focus on how understanding the Lord is the beginning of wisdom for anybody. So, we're going to start in verse 7. The works of His hand are faithful and just. All His precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you that we're able to gather here today to worship you, and we thank you that we can constantly be reminded of how your promises

are always kept and how your mighty works are remembered, not just written down in Scripture, but in our own lives. And we thank you for these reminders that help us when we are in the pit, and then they help us to just remind us to glorify you when we're on top of the mountain. And we thank you again that we can gather. I ask that you bless this service, help to glorify you, and just help us to just continue to worship you in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Our first Song we're going to sing today is going to be "Behold Our God."

Who has held the oceans in His hands? Who has numbered every grain of sand? Kings and nations tremble at His voice. All creation rises to rejoice. Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come let us adore Him. Behold our King, nothing can compare. Come let us adore Him. Who has given counsel to the Lord? Who can question any of His words? Who can teach the one who knows all things? Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds? Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King, nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. Who has felt the nails upon His hands, bearing all the guilt of sinful man? God eternal, humble to the Lord. Jesus, Savior, is in mount to reign. Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King. Nothing can come from Him. Nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him.

If you have something you want to share, just send us a message or comment or text the number that Brandon's going to post up on the screen. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. Christ alone, cornerstone, weak made strong in the Savior's love. Through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all. When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. My anchor holds within the veil. Christ alone, call us Lord. Weak made strong in the Savior's light. Through the storm, He is Lord. Lord, I love. Christ alone, call us Lord. Weak made strong in the Savior's light. Through the storm, He is Lord. Lord, I love. When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found. Dressed in His righteousness alone. Faultless than before the throne. Christ alone. Call us though weak and strong. In the same as love through the storm. He is Lord. Lord I hope. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

We're back. As we prepare for our time of communion, I just wanted to share from this book that I purchased, Valley of Vision, this Puritan prayer to just kind of think about as we sing our song together and just have a moment of quiet with the Lord. It's a prayer that starts with, "Life-giving God, quicken me to call upon thy name, for my mind is ignorant, my thoughts vagrant, my affections earthly, my heart unbelieving, and only thy spirit can help my infirmities. I approach thee as father and friend, my portion forever, my exceeding joy, my strength of my heart. I believe in thee as the God of nature, the ordainer of providence, the sender of Jesus, my Savior. My guilty fears discourage and approach to thee, but I praise thee for the blessed news that Jesus reconciles thee to me. May the truth that is in him illuminate in me all that is dark, establish in me all that is wavering, comfort in me all that is wretched, accomplish in me all that is of thy goodness,

and glorify in me the name of Jesus. I pass through a veil of tears, but bless thee for the opening gate of glory at its end. Enable me to realize as mine the better heavenly country. Prepare me for every part of my pilgrimage. Uphold my steps by thy word. Let no iniquity dominate me. Teach me that Christ cannot be the way if I am the end, that he cannot be redeemer if I am my own savior, that there can be no true union with him while the creature has my heart, that faith accepts him as redeemer and Lord or not at all. And so as we just focus on that truth in Jesus, and there was a line here about his name that I'm trying to find again. Just that that truth about Jesus, just hearing his name can bring us encouragement. The next song we're going to be doing is what a beautiful name it is. And it just describes how just hearing his name helps us through these times. So just focus on that as we continue to worship today.

God, the Lord most high. Your hidden glory in creation. Now revealed in you, our Christ. What a beautiful name it is. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ, my name. What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus. Heaven down. My sin was great. Your love was greater. What could separate us now? What a wonderful name it is. What a wonderful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ, my King. What a wonderful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a wonderful name it is. The name of Jesus. Death could not hold you. The veil tore before you. Your silence, the boast of sin and grace. The heavens are rolling. The praise of your glory. For you are raised to life again. You have no rival. You have no equal. Now and forever, God, you reign.

Your kingdom. Yours is the glory. Yours is the name above all names. What a powerful name it is. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ, my King. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. The name of Jesus. If you didn't get a chance to pick up communion elements, they are on the table right next to the door. So there is a tendency that I think probably most of us have, and that is to focus on our ourselves. So last night, Derek and Chrissy were over, and we were sitting there, and Evelyn asked for a lifesaver, and so I tossed her a lifesaver, and she says, "Dad, that was a good throw," and I said, "Of course it is," right? Because I am the best. That's our tendency, right? When we do something good, when we think we have something figured out, we have this tendency to praise ourselves, right? It's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way.

In a few minutes, we'll be in Acts chapter 1, or Acts chapter 2, and one of the things that I love about these first verses in Acts chapter 2, where we'll be, is that there is something amazing happening. The disciples are proclaiming the goodness of God, and I think that's so important to notice. They're speaking not of their power, not of what the Spirit is doing through them, but rather they're pointing their way to God. And so when we come to the communion table this morning, it's not a time to pat ourselves on the back, but rather look to the greatness and the goodness and the mercy of God. I guess it's Puritan Sunday, because I want to share with you a quote from John Owen. He says, "The purpose of our holy and righteous God was to save His church, but their sin could not go unpunished. It was therefore necessary that

the punishment for that sin be transferred from those who deserved it, but could not bear it, to the one who did not deserve it, but was able to bear it." I want us to point our eyes toward Jesus this morning in this bread and in this cup, that our pride would be humbled, that our spirits would be encouraged, that our fear would be taken away, that our guilt and our shame, if you are a Christian, you would be reminded that those are paid for by the blood of Christ, that he has given you his righteousness. And so to direct our minds and our hearts in that direction, I want to read from Romans, the fifth chapter, "For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God? For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation." Our lives, as we consider your greatness and your goodness, may you shift our focus from us to you. We may see that our hope is in you, that it is not the work of our hands or our strength that provides our salvation, but rather it is your work through the gift of your Son, and through the empowering of your Spirit. of your mercy, of your grace, and how it's been poured into our lives. May we be reminded of the strengthening of your Spirit for your people. I ask that you bless this bread and bless this cup. May we proclaim your Son until He comes again. It's in His name we pray. Amen.

In 1 Corinthians, the 11th chapter, Paul says that when Jesus had given thanks, He took bread, and He broke it, and He said, "This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. Would you partake with Me?" In the same way, also, He took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Our Scripture reading this morning is from Acts, the second chapter. I'm going to go ahead and be reading Acts chapter 2, 1 through 13, if you'd like to follow along. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them, rested on each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem devout men from every nation under heaven, and at this sound a multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in their own language, and they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?"

How is it that we hear each in our own native language, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Perga, Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others mocked, saying, "They are filled with new wine." This is the word of the Lord. Father in heaven, we do thank you and praise you for your word. We thank you for how it instructs, how it helps, how it empowers, how it convicts, and how, most of all, it points us to your goodness. So may you encourage our hearts. May you strengthen our hands. May you help us this morning as we look at this wonderful text. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So there are some recipes that when you see them being made, doubts begin to arise in your mind. And if you've ever had kids, you understand this, because you'll be cooking dinner, and they will come in and they go, "Oh, what's for dinner? A bunch of glop?" So they look at the recipe and what you're making, and immediately doubts begin to form as to how good it's going to be. Now, then there are other kinds of recipes that as you see the meal being made, or the item being made, you know that it is going to be good. And so this week we were talking with some friends about different recipes for bread and things like that. And I said, "Rachel, you should give them the recipes for your cinnamon rolls, because her cinnamon rolls are amazing."

And I remember it as if it was yesterday, and I kind of wish it was yesterday, the first time she made them. And what happens is that as I saw what she was doing, you know, it went from curiosity to attention as I watched her make these cinnamon rolls. Because there are certain things you know that are going to be good. And so when the recipe calls not for sticks of butter, but for the boxes of butter that you need, you know that these are going to be amazing. And so as the process of making these cinnamon rolls progress, you could just, I could taste the anticipation. And it was wonderful. This text that we're going to be in this morning has had a similar impact on me over the past few weeks of preparation.

It starts as, in my mind, as kind of a sort of an interesting historical note. But as you dive into the words that Luke records here in Acts chapter 2 in the very beginning, well, you find it's not just an interesting historical note, but rather this is something wonderful. And so I want to start this morning by taking a look at God's wonderful work in these first 13 verses. And I'm going to refresh your mind and your memory of what we have just read by reading the first three verses. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them, and rested on each one of them.

And so if you've ever watched Bob Ross paint, it's one of the things sometimes when the kids need some calming, we put it on because, you know, he's so soothing. At the beginning of every one of his paintings, he'll say, "Well, here's our palette for today," right? And he lists a bunch of different colors, and then he manages to take those colors and turn them into a bunch of happy little trees, right? One of the things I want to do in this text is show you three of the colors in God's palette that he takes and he turns into this wondrous masterpiece. And the first thing I want you to notice, and the first color in our palette is this, the timing of what is happening. So it says the day of Pentecost. And so what this is in the Jewish calendar is the Feast of Weeks.

The word Pentecost literally means 50th. And so it's 50 days from the Feast of the Firstfruits, which takes place at the same time as Passover. And just as a side note, to see how God works and to get a glimpse of what he's going to do here, I want you to go back to Passover and the Feast of Firstfruits. Because Paul in Corinthians will say that as the Jewish people celebrated the Feast of the Firstfruits, Jesus rises from the dead. And what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15:20? The fact that Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. That God takes this picture of this Passover, of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Feast of the Firstfruits that points to his resurrection, and God uses it as a powerful picture for the Gospel.

And so we come now to the Feast of Weeks 50 days later, and this is one of three solemn feasts that takes place in the Jewish feast. So you have the Feast of Firstfruits that coincides with Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the requirement was that if you were an able-bodied Jewish man, you needed to go to Jerusalem, stand before God, make your sacrifices, and be present for these feasts. Exodus 33 says this: "Three times a year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel." Now, there are two reasons why this is so important and so wonderful. The first is that it's a perfect time for the church to begin. Three times a year, God calls all the Jewish men to come to Jerusalem. Three times a year.

And so, as this feast dawns, there's a whole lot of extra people in town. We read about it a little later in Acts chapter 2. We have Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Perga, Asia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, visitors from Rome, Jews, proselytes, Cretans, Arabians. All of these people are coming. And if you remember back to Acts chapter 1, Jesus says, "You're going to be my witnesses in Judea and Jerusalem and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." And here, on the day that the church starts, they are instructed to go to all the world. But on the day that the church starts, what does God do? He brings the entire world to Jerusalem. Isn't that a wonderful picture? Jesus has said, "You're going to go out to all the world."

But on the day the church starts, God, in His providential planning and in His law, brings the world to Jerusalem. The second thing we see is that this feast of weeks is a picture of the harvest. It's when you would gather in the end of your harvest, you would come, you would bring your offerings before God. It's a picture of what God is doing here. Just as the people are bringing their harvest, God is bringing a harvest into the kingdom. It says that 3,000 souls were added this day. And if you think about this, and you see lots of interesting historical and biblical facts, it's bigger than that. Because remember when God in Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy is setting forth these feats, and He's making the rules and the plan, what is He doing?

He's preparing for this day. The day when all of these people would gather together, hear the good news of the gospel, and be gathered into the kingdom. It's a marvelous, wonderful, and encouraging picture of how God works. They heard next, and this is the second color in our palette, the sound of a mighty rushing wind. And so wind in the Old Testament often sort of pictures the presence of God. Remember Job as he's asking God questions, and he wants to ask God questions. In Job 38, God will answer Job out of the whirlwind. And when Elijah goes to heaven in 2 Kings, remember what happens? There's a chariot of fire, and there is a whirlwind as he is taken into God's presence. But wind, or breath, as this can also be translated in the Old Testament, is more than just the presence of God.

It can depict life-giving power. In Genesis chapter 2, as we have that detailed creation account of mankind, remember what it says? The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living thing. Man only becomes a living thing by the breath of God. And if you remember Ezekiel, the 23rd chapter, Ezekiel has this vision, right? And it's a valley full of dry, dead bones. And he speaks to them under the command of God, and they begin to have flesh and skin, but they have no life into them. And so God says, "Prophesy over the dead bones." And so he begins to speak. And what happens? Those bones, as the wind begins to touch them, fill with life. And the promise in Ezekiel 23:14 is this, "And I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in my land.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord, I have spoken, and I will do it," declares the Lord. It's not just that God is present, but that God is empowering through this wind. And then take a look at what they saw. It says they saw tongues of fire, so little flames of fire. In fact, you often see pictures of Pentecost depicted with little flames of fire descending onto the heads of the disciples. Once again, fire in the Old Testament is used to depict the presence of God. Remember where Moses first meets God? It's in a burning bush. And when God leads His people out of Egypt, do you remember what He does at night? A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of what by night that He leads His people? A pillar of fire.

And when He comes to Mount Sinai to deliver the law, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. Do you remember Solomon as he dedicates the temple and as he prays? In 2 Chronicles 7, as soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And so fire comes down from heaven, takes the sacrifices, and the brightness and the glory and the goodness and the justice of God fills the temple. And so fire isn't just the presence of God, but it's His arrival, it's His filling. And what do you see for us? 1 Corinthians says, "Do you not know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? You are not your own. You were bought with a price."

So you say, "Well, what is the purpose of all of these things? The day and the sound and the sight, what is the purpose?" So, I remember the first time there was a rocket facility for NASA on Wallops Island, a little bit to our north and to our east. And so when they launch a rocket, sometimes the trajectory of the rocket will take them over this part of Virginia. And so you'll see, you know, the rocket's going to be launched. And they say, "Well, you know, your area will be 25 seconds from the time the rocket launches." And so we'll watch the rocket launch, and then we run outside, and you begin to try to find the little tiny pinprick of light that is the rocket launch. Is that it? No. Is that it? And so you're trying to guess and try to see what it looks like.

That's not what's happening with God's promised power. He does not leave the church uncertain of what He is doing. But in fact, He comes in a way that is unmistakable. And one of the wonders of this passage is that God works in a way, and He fulfills His promises in such a way that it is unmistakable. They can't mistake it for anything else. It's also a picture of what God is doing through the work of the Spirit. He's bringing in a harvest. He's saying to the disciples, "I'm with you. I'm breathing life into you. I'm leading you. I'm dwelling with you." And Christians, the same Spirit that empowered them empowers us. He brings in the harvest. He is with us. He breathed life into us. He leads us. He dwells with us. This isn't just an interesting historical note, but a powerful encouragement to all of God's people.

And in verse 4, it says, "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." And one of the things I love about this is you see that God keeps His promises. And we can go to passage after passage in the Old Testament and the New Testament, but I'll just give you two, one from each. In Joel 2, Peter will use this in his sermon, "It shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see vision, even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out My Spirit." And so in Joel, as God makes that promise, it is kept and fulfilled here in Acts chapter 2.

And if you remember Jesus in Acts chapter 1, He says, "Don't depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father." John, "Baptized with water, you shall be baptized with the Spirit not many days from now." And Jesus promises power for the mission that He has given. And that's just two examples of how God keeps His promises. And I want you to think about this in terms of your life and in terms of my life when we consider the fact that God keeps His promises in regards to the Spirit. And in Romans 8, what you find is the Spirit and the blessings of the Spirit are unpacked in a whole lot of different ways. I'll just give you a few. One is that the Spirit brings life. Secondly, the Spirit leads us. The Spirit reminds us.

So in those moments where we are doubtful and we look at our lives and say, "Can God really, really love me?" And we probably all felt that way in a relationship or even in our faith. "Can God really love someone as broken as me?" The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. He helps us in our weakness, especially in our prayers. That God keeps His promises regarding the Spirit. So do you know the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge? So last night when Luke gets really, really tired, like a lot of kids, he gets really, really rambunctious. And so at one point, he was like a trampoline, right? He's like, "I'm gonna bounce." I was like, "Stop jumping on this couch," in part because I think Mom loves the couch more than she loves the kids.

And so he just bounced on the couch. I was like, "Luke, stop jumping on the couch!" He looks at me, kind of sits there for a minute, and then you can kind of see his eyes looking around, and then what happens? Right back to jumping on the couch. Because intellectually in his head, right, he knew that he wasn't supposed to jump on the couch. But in his heart of hearts, right, he didn't have that knowledge, right? All he wanted to do was bounce on the couch and try to keep himself from going to sleep. And when it comes to our lives, there is a difference in our faith between knowing intellectually that the Spirit indwells us, and lives with us, and leads us, and helps us, and testifies with our spirit, and breathes life into us.

There's a difference between intellectually knowing that, and seeing it brought down into the depths of our heart. And it is my prayer that God wouldn't just implant these truths in our head, but he would bury them deep in our hearts. What would change in your life, in my life, in the life of the church, if this reality wasn't simply head knowledge? What would change if this was embedded in the depths of your heart? I want you to see next both a picture and a promise of redemption. Now dwelling in Jerusalem were Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. At the sound, the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in their own language. Now, we've seen brokenness in our world. I can't tell you how many times that I will come home, and one of the kids will be like, "Hey Dad, can you glue this back together?"

As a dad, part of my job is evidently to glue things back together. I never really thought that I would be doing as much gluing after I graduated from, you know, kindergarten as I do right now. So part of a job of a dad is to put things back together, and we look, and we don't have to look very far to see the brokenness and the hurt and the heartache in this world. And one of the remarkable promises of the gospel and of the cross is that God is putting things back together. If you read Sally Lloyd-Jones' "The Jesus Storybook Bible," she will say it this way, that he is making all the sad things come untrue. And if you remember in Genesis the 11th chapter, God's people, instead of spreading out, they clump together.

And instead of worshiping God, they begin to build a tower to make themselves God. And so what does God do to limit evil in the earth? What he does is he takes and he scrambles all of their languages. Now what does he do here in Acts the second chapter with the good news of the gospel? All of these different languages. And what does he do? He brings it back together. It's a picture of how God redeems his broken world. What was once separated, and what was once distant, and once was mired in conflict, God is bringing back together through the good news of the gospel. And it's a wonderful picture of God's work in redemption, but it's also a wonderful promise of God's redemption. Remember in Revelation chapter 7, as everyone is gathered before the throne, what does it say?

A great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out loud, "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And you see the church in heaven, in one language, with no suffering, and no sorrow, and no brokenness, and no hurt, and no struggles, proclaiming together from all peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations, the goodness of God. So not only is this a picture of how God is taking the broken and making it come untrue, it's also a picture of what is in store for the church of God in the future. There are three responses in this text to the work of God. At the end of verse 11, we hear them telling in our own tongue the mighty works of God.

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others mocked and said, "They are filled with new wine." First of all, you see that for those who truly see, they proclaim the goodness of God. One of the ways in which we can examine and evaluate our hearts as to where we stand in regard to God, is what are we proclaiming? Are we proclaiming our own goodness, our own strength, our own ability, or are we proclaiming the mighty works of God with our words and with our actions in this broken and hurting world that is longing for a Redeemer? What are we proclaiming? The second is for those who are outside of the faith, and there's two responses. One is the response of investigation, because they were amazed and perplexed.

The picture of amazement is literally beside themselves, that they have sort of stepped out of themselves and kind of looking going, "What is happening?" And they are amazed, and they're saying, "What does this mean?" They don't reject it, they don't mock it, they don't make fun of it, but rather they investigate it. And one of the things that I love about the Bible and the Christian faith is that God calls and says, "Come investigate. Come and see." Like the Bereans who heard the teaching, and they said, "Well, let's go back and search the Scriptures." God is not afraid of your questions. In fact, He invites you to examine the truth of the good news. The other response is less exciting. They begin to mock. They could have asked questions, they could have sought to understand, but instead they said,

"These guys are really broken into the breakfast wine this morning." So three responses. One, people who know God proclaim His mighty works. And I would encourage you between these last two responses, the response of mockery, and the response of investigation, to ask your questions, to ask your hard questions, to look at the facts, to see the good news of the Gospel, how God is restoring, how He keeps His promises, how He empowers His people, how He leads, and He can do that in your life as well. Let's pray. Father, strengthen us, encourage us with this wonderful news that we see how Your plan unfolds through the Old Testament, how these pictures that encouraged Your people, and these events that encouraged Your people were used to point to this wonderful moment in the birth of the Church.

Help us to be a people who proclaim Your mighty works. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing our hymn of invitation.

The splendor of the King, of the majesty. Let all the earth rejoice. All the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light. His darkness tries to hide. He trembles at his voice. He trembles at his voice. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. Oh, see how great. How great is our God. And age to age He stands. And time is in His hands. Beginning and the end. Beginning and the end. The God had dreamed and won. Father, Spirit, Son. The Lion and the Lamb. The Lion and the Lamb. How great is our God. Sing with me how great is our God. Oh, see how great, how great is our God. How great is our God. Sing with me how great is our God. Oh, see how great, how great is our God.

I want to thank you all for joining us here this morning. Whether you are joining us here in person, you're one of the folks watching online, we are thankful that you are here with us. Just a few announcements, and I'll just have Derek put them up on the screen. First of all, tomorrow on Facebook, YouTube, and our website, we've been going through the book of Psalms, just a short video, and a reading from the Psalms to sort of start us off by encouraging our hearts and our minds in the goodness of God. Tomorrow is Psalm 3, where David is in the midst of, it seems like his life is falling apart, but he points to the goodness of God and ultimately says, "You're the reason I can go to sleep at night." Even when everything falls apart. So you can join us on Facebook, YouTube, or our website for that.

Alright, next. If you haven't signed up to our email list, I encourage you to do so. You can do so by just giving me your email address, or you can go on our Facebook page and click the link that says, "Sign Up," or your website about halfway down. I encourage you to sign up for our email list. Next. We'll be here Wednesday night studying the parables. If you want to read ahead on the parables of Jesus, there's a handout on the information table. Go ahead and pick one of those up, and we'll be here 7:00 p.m. in person and online. In our next, I think we have Ladies Bible Study this week. I don't know if we have a slide for that because we had it a few weeks ago. Ladies Bible Study this Thursday, 1:00 p.m., studying Saul's daughter, Michael. So if you want to join the ladies, be here at 1:00 p.m. for that encouraging time.

Additionally, I don't know if we have a slide for this or not, but you can find our sermon audio in several different places. The video is on YouTube. We put up a clip video, so instead of the whole live service, we put up a video of the message. Also, if you use Apple Podcasts, it's available there. Just go there and find it and click five stars because that helps our viewing and helps people to be able to find it. Also, if you use Spotify, you can find it there. We're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, sing the doxology, and be dismissed. Father in heaven, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your people. Thank you that you bring people together from all different places and all different backgrounds and all different lives, and you bring them together into your kingdom, and we thank you for your work in salvation. We thank you for the gift of the Spirit. We ask that you would encourage us and strengthen us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Amen. Amen. Amen.