Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: I hear all the time people say God has a plan for our lives. Well, let me ask you: what's His plan for you? Do you know what it is? How do you discover it? And once you know it, how do you do it? That's today on Living on the Edge.

Dave Druey: Have you ever been waiting for something and wondered is anything actually happening? I'm Dave Druey, and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram continues his series "The Jesus Revolution" with a message from Acts chapter 2.

The ten days of waiting in Jerusalem was not God being absent. It was God preparing. And on the day of Pentecost, the dam broke and the church was born. Now a little later in our program, we'll share details about a very special opportunity that's just getting underway. It's our mid-year match and you won't want to miss it, so stay tuned. Well, here's Chip with a message titled "The Birth of a Movement."

Chip Ingram: Do you realize that you're sitting in this seat today because approximately 2,000 years ago, there was a group of about 120 Christ followers who had just seen literally Jesus ascend into heaven? And the last thing they remember He said was, "Don't go do anything. Go to Jerusalem and wait."

120 mostly uneducated people. They'd followed Christ for 40 days. They had had conversation over 500 witnesses had seen the scars, the holes in His hands, the miracles. And He said, "Now don't go do anything yet. What I want you to do is I want you to wait."

And I don't know about you, but I kind of read between the lines. Peter seems like a go-getter. And I'm thinking like day one, he's thinking okay. Day two, that's still okay. Day four, I've got a job. How long are we going to be here?

And then outside those walls, Jesus was not a popular person and His followers weren't popular. So thinking there's fear and anxiety out there and there's hope and expectation. And then I bet like day seven or eight they're thinking, "Now let me get this right. There's 120 of us in downtown Jerusalem and we're going to take the world, right?" And then day nine, still nothing's happening. And then bang! Something big happens.

One of the most difficult things for me in my life and probably a lot of you is waiting. I want you to remember that God's plans are perfect. Just write that down. It'll do something for your soul just to remember. No matter where you're at, God's plans are perfect.

Second, God's timing is perfect. You may think it needs to happen now. Guess what? Often He's preparing you for something better, something bigger, something that's really right instead of just close. And third, can you guess what God's methods are? They're perfect.

If you have your Bibles, open to Acts chapter two. Are you ready? This is the story of the birth of the church. Chapter two, verse one: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and it filled the whole house where they were sitting."

"They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven."

"And when they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each of them were hearing them speaking in their own language or dialect. Utterly amazed, they asked, 'Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hear them in our own language?'"

"Parthians and Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts or proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues! Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?'"

Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They've had too much wine." Isn't it interesting? We're going to hear Peter's message and his message is going to be about the resurrection. He's going to tell them first of all, "This thing that just occurred, let me tell you why that's happening. I'm going to explain that."

Second, after you understand this phenomena, starting in verse 22, he has a message. And his message is about the proof of the resurrection, and he's going to give four specific proofs that Jesus actually has come back from the dead and therefore what He said really is true.

Let's pick up his explanation. Verse 14: "Then Peter stood up." People were going, "What's going on?" and others were going, "They're drunk." He stood up with the 11. He raised his voice. This is the guy that was afraid of the servant girl. Spirit of God makes a difference, apparently.

And he addressed the crowd, "Fellow Jews and all of you who are in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk as you suppose. It's only 9:00 in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel."

Now he quotes Joel chapter two, verse 28 and following: "'In the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy.'"

"'I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. Then the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.'"

Peter says two major things. He says, number one, "This thing that you see, those tongues of fire, that noise, hearing in different languages, this is exactly what Joel said. The last days have begun." The moment the Spirit comes, we are living in the last days.

And then he talks about that's what you see right now. But Joel's prophecy has a near fulfillment and a longer fulfillment. He starts and says, "In the last days," but at the very end, did you notice it says, "the glorious day of the Lord"? That phrase "day of the Lord" all throughout the Old Testament is the final judgment of God when Christ returns and some of these things will happen then. First and foremost he says, "Guys, God said this would happen."

Now he starts his sermon. Beginning in verse 22, here's proof number one: the historical reality of Jesus. He's just going to start out and say, "This phenomena, this event that we've had, I want you to know it's rooted in that person that about 40 or 45 days ago, remember?"

"Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge and, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross."

"But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him." Point number one: everything we're talking about is rooted in this historical person Jesus, that you knew, and everyone knew He did all those miracles.

Point number two: he's going to say, "Look, this was prophesied. The Old Testament predicted that this would happen to the Messiah." And so what they're going to do is take the teaching about the Messiah and lay it over the experience they've had about Jesus and say Old Testament truth and Jesus are one and the same.

Notice he's going to give the Old Testament prophecy from David. Quoting Psalm 16, David said about Him, "'I saw the Lord always before me. Because He's at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay.'"

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and he knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that He was not abandoned to the grave nor did His body see decay."

"God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of this fact." So he makes the point it was prophesied in the Old Testament and then his third point is there's eyewitnesses. This wasn't done in a vacuum. He's saying there were 500 of us over the last 40 days. In any court of law, two eyewitnesses declare it's true.

See these 120 people with the fire on top of their head, speaking the languages they've never learned? Every one of them is an eyewitness. In fact, I can just tell you ten days ago, we watched Him go up! He's making a very strong case in this first sermon about why you can actually believe that Jesus in fact is the Messiah, that He died and that He rose from the grave.

Look at verse 33: "Exalted to the right hand of God, He's received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has been poured out, and that is what you see and hear. For David didn't ascend to heaven and yet he said, 'The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'"

He's basically saying, "This event that you're seeing is the fourth proof." And then notice what he calls for: "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." The word "Lord" there you might circle in your Bible. It's a word used for God.

They're making this point that Jesus was in fact fully human but fully God. The Yahweh of the Old Testament, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. They're making this point that He is in fact God and He is the Messiah. He was the hope of Israel. And so he speaks to them and says, "Guys, you got a big issue on your hands. What are you going to do with this truth?"

Dave Druey: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and we'll continue his message in just a moment. Something special is happening here in June at Living on the Edge. It's a powerful mid-year match. For a limited time, every gift to this ministry will be doubled in size, meaning twice the reach, twice the impact for every dollar given. You can learn more about it at livingontheedge.org and Chip will have more details after today's message. Now let's get back to our lesson.

Chip Ingram: The lesson here is that the power is in the message, not the messenger. Sometimes we feel like if I could just speak better or if I just knew more. The Apostle Paul would say in Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

What he's saying is that there's a reason in God's wisdom that He picked an uneducated blue-collar worker who really failed to be the hero of the first message of the early church. Power's not in the messenger. Power's in the message. It's not how cool you are. It's not your personality. The power is in the gospel.

If you will share it, people trust Christ because the Holy Spirit prepares them and the Holy Spirit is speaking to them and God loves them. He wants your mouth. He wants your heart. He wants your hands. He just wants you and me to love people and then to have the courage to share how to have a personal relationship with the God of heaven.

Has anyone ever shared with you how you can have eternal life that is actually a gift that's not about religiosity or a moral code? God actually loves you and He made you. You know what you'll find? People will look at you and go, "No, no one ever has. Would you?" And then you'll think, "Well, I'm a failure and I can't say it very well." And you'll think great! That's you and Peter, you're ready to roll.

Question: what's keeping you from sharing His message? God placed you in a neighborhood, God placed you in a home or with a roommate, He placed you in a job. And you are the answer to someone's biggest need: their eternity. It's you. It's me.

Some of the reasons that people don't share is one, your network. You need to be the very best friend to some people that believe absolutely the opposite of what you believe and whose morality is the opposite of what you know is right. And they experience someone who loves them for where they're at. They just scratch their head and think, "Why would you love me?"

Second, you need to have intentionality. Where is this relationship going? Maybe you give them a book or you have a conversation and you ask more questions. Ask where they are coming from and why, and care about them. Third is maybe it's a confidence issue. Maybe you just don't really believe the power is in the gospel. You think it's all on you.

And then finally, it's just fear. The fear of man. Bible says the fear of man is a snare, but happy is the person who trusts in the Lord. I still have times where I realize this is an opportunity and I'm really afraid of what this person's 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.

I think a lot of Christians are ashamed of the gospel. They want to have this relationship over here but 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 in His wisdom first sends the Holy Spirit. This phenomena occurs. Second, He places in the mouth of this failure who's uneducated this amazing message.

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, wherever you're at, just tell one person that Jesus loves them and cares for them and look for an opportunity.

And then third, what happened was those people who heard the message and repented. The word just means to change your mind. To change your mind with a sense of sorrow that led to a change of behavior. 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 85 South and God says, "You've 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.

Whether you recognize it or not, you think success or just that person or enough money is going to deliver significance 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've got to change your mind about me."

What the scripture says is that the moment you turn from your sin and trust in Him, you're justified by faith. That means all the sin in your column gets deleted and all the righteousness of Christ gets imputed so that the God of heaven looks on you through what Christ has done and you're righteous in His sight and you're born again.

The church is born. Listen to what happens at verse 37: "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart." Literally it means they were stung. And they said to Peter and to 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."

So what happened was the church is born and if you have the Spirit of God, you're part of this new thing called the church. Romans 8:9 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."

If you don't have the Spirit of Christ living in you, you don't belong to Him. The second thing that happened is this was the Spirit's baptism. 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 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." Now they're going to be baptized and identify and literally be placed into this new supernatural community called the church.

Dave Druey: This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and "The Birth of a Movement." But before we wrap up today, Chip has something important to share about the mid-year match, so stay with us. You can hear this message again or catch any program in "The Jesus Revolution" series on the Living on the Edge podcast. And for Chip's sermons the way they were originally preached start to finish, subscribe to the Chip Ingram Sermon podcast today.

Think about what it took for Pentecost to happen. Ten days of waiting. Unlikely people. No strategy, no budget, no platform. Just prayer and a promise. And when God moved, no one in the crowd could explain it away. Chip's point today cuts right to the heart of it. This is what God can do when His people stop trying to manufacture momentum and simply show up, stay together, and trust Him to move. That's still the plan. And here's Chip to tell you how Living on the Edge is helping people do exactly that all around the world.

Chip Ingram: Was there a season when you couldn't get enough of God's word? When prayer felt like a real conversation? When you were genuinely excited about being a part of a church? And then somewhere along the way, life happened and the fire got quiet.

I want you to know today that God is speaking to you, that the door is still open. The movement is still moving and Jesus is still calling. In Acts chapter three and four, I show how Jesus kept drawing broken people, doubting people, people who had every reason to walk away.

That same Spirit who moved then is moving now. "The Jesus Revolution" is my invitation to you to come back in. Not to religion, not to routine, but to the real living spirit-powered relationship that Jesus offers to each and every one of us. The way back in and the way forward are the same road. If your heart is stirring right now, that's not an accident. Step back into the movement.

And if God leads you, seal it with a gift this June. Wherever our money goes, our heart follows. I'll never forget years ago, I was reading through the Psalms and realized I kept reading about God's heart for orphans and He cares about them. And in an honest moment, I realized I really didn't care about orphans at all.

And so I have a friend that reaches out to orphans and has built amazing things in Zimbabwe. And I started giving a little and then Theresa and I started giving each month. And what I realized was as my money went to where I knew I wanted it to be, God got my heart there as well.

This isn't about us getting your money other than to help other people. But if God is speaking to you, take some step because the door is open and Jesus is saying to you, "Come on in. Let's get back together. Let's walk together."

Dave Druey: If Chip's words just described where you are, take a step toward that open door. Right now every gift you send to Living on the Edge is being matched dollar for dollar through our mid-year match. Seal your decision with a gift of any amount. Go online to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003.

Your generosity this June goes twice as far as it does any other time of year. That's twice the broadcasts, twice the resources, twice the moments where someone hears the truth at exactly the right time. Again, just go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003 to give today.

I'm Dave Druey. Coming up, part two of "The Birth of a Movement." 3,000 people in one afternoon and a community unlike anything the world had ever seen. That's next time on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.