[PASTOR MICHAEL NOVOTNY]
No matter what our
background or religion,
all of us have fallen so
far short of what God
wants: To love him with
our whole heart and love
every neighbor as
ourselves. But then God
did something amazing.
Pastor Mark Jeske is going
to tell us of the
incredible hope we have
and the forgiveness, love,
and mercy of Jesus Christ.
It's next on Time of
Grace.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MARK JESKE]
This may come
as a shock to you but I'm
kind of a history nerd
[Audience: laughter].
Anybody ever been to
Jerusalem? All that's
left, the entire top of
the platform, that big
flat space where the
buildings were built, all
gone. The temple mount
itself has been flattened
off and it's enormous;
it's like the size of a
farm; almost 40 acres of
flatness to build on. In
the middle is the
rectangle with a
courtyard. And in this
large courtyard and in the
cool shaded stoas, they
were called - or arcades;
in the colonnade, in Solomon's
Colonnade, Peter and John
- two of Jesus' leading
disciples - were going one
afternoon for some prayer
and they ran into a
beggar. If you've got a
Bible handy or you want to
look it up on your mobile
device, look up Acts 3,
would you? And we're going
to dig deep into one
particular paragraph but I
just want to kind of get
you there to know what is
going on in this
particular story. It's an
amazing story; it's right
after Pentecost. There'd
been an explosion of
believers; 3,000 people
came to faith on Pentecost
day with Peter's fiery
message. Mr. Wuss - who
would not even confess his
faith to a girl the night
watchman working third
shift watching a gate -
she bullied and
intimidated him into a
shameful silence;
something he was ashamed
about for the rest of his
life and which probably
kept him humble as he was
dealing with other people
who had doubts. He had his
doubts, too. Now the
resurrection experience
and Jesus' ascension and
the coming of the Holy
Spirit on Pentecost had
made him fearless and he
just laid it out there.
His Pentecost sermon is a
spectacular, brilliant
address in Acts 2. Acts 3
is right behind it though
for acts of courage. And
he had left his caution
and fears behind. If he
was going to get arrested
and killed - in fact, they
were arrested; he's so
irritated and zinged the
religious leadership, they
actually did arrest him
and he didn't care
anymore. He was now going
to spend whatever breath
God gave him to give glory
to the Savior. He finally
figured it out and he was
on fire! So what should he
run into though but a
person who had been
disabled from birth. You
know, it's bad enough to
have been in some kind of
like industrial accident
and you lose the use of
one or both of your legs;
what a disaster that is.
This poor man had never
been able to use his legs;
it was a congenital
deformity of some kind
that made him helpless.
And man, if you think it's
no fun to have some kind
of disability like that
today, can you imagine
what it was like back
then? No SSI, no income;
there was no way to use
taxable revenues to
support somebody with a
disability. You're on your
own is the way it was.
There was no Medicaid. If
you needed medical care or
some kind of prosthesis,
man, the different types
of things that we have
available to help people
who have a deformed or
missing limb, you can get
rigged up today with
amazing artificial limbs
that just keep blowing our
mind with the way that
they restore mobility,
even to people who are
missing big chunks of
their legs or even arms.
Not back then. There was
nothing for him to do to
survive but that he had to
talk some relatives and
friends to carry him to
the most public place
associated with charity
and generosity they could
think of. So every day,
somebody would carry this
man and drop him off at
the temple to beg. That
was his only way he could
survive. He didn't have a
family that was wealthy
enough to let him sit home
and eat there. He had to
earn his keep, too, and he
earned it in the most
humbling, miserably,
embarrassing ways by
begging. So he had to do
what all beggars do: Make
his situation look so
pathetic that people would
have pity on him and throw
him a shekel here and
there; enough for him to
buy some bread and buy
another day of life. What
kind of life is that
though? Do you aspire to
that life? What kind - he
had no - this man had no
pride. He had no future.
Who's going to want to
marry him? He'd never be a
father. Who would want to
hire him? He just sat
there waiting to die. What
a life. And so, he was
begging and Peter says,
"You know, I have no money
but I've got something
else to give you. In the
name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, get up and walk."
And the man believed him
and new energy, life and
strength flowed through
his body and reestablished
muscle tissue on his
withered, shriveled up,
atrophied legs. The bones
that had been maybe out of
alignment or badly formed
or maybe never really
fully formed were suddenly
strong and fully shaped.
And he didn't slowly get
better; like he didn't go
on a three-month rehab
session. He got
transformed kaboom! Like
that! And he didn't stand
up and say, "Well, that
was good. Thank you, sir,"
and walk away. He jumped!
He ran! He hollered and
wanted everybody to know
that God had entered his
life and done something
extraordinary. All through
the miraculous touch and
words of Peter and James.
And see, their point in
doing this, they were not
sent by God to get rid of
congenital diseases and
disabilities. Their job
was not to get rid of
paralysis or people with
crutches or slings,
carrying their arms in
slings or people with
injuries to their limbs.
Their goal was to connect
people to Christ and when
God saw an opportunity to
make a definitive
statement like that,
that's when Peter and the
other apostles were given
extraordinary abilities.
Not because their main
goal was to help this poor
man find a job; their main
goal was to help this man
find his Savior. And Peter
did not waste the
opportunity because
suddenly, a massive crowd
comes running. Everybody
knew this guy; he was
there day after day. Can
you imagine the names that
people had for this man?
We don't even get to know
his name. Imagine what
they called him? Jacob the
Cripple. And now, he was
whole! And so Peter began
to talk to the people. But
instead of saying, "This
is our mission; to help
people with disabilities."
That was sort of
incidental. What was
happening was a
demonstration of God's
love. He loves people. A
demonstration of God's
power and most of all, a
demonstration that Jesus
Christ, the one they had
just crucified, was God's
personal representative on
earth. He was the Messiah,
their King. And so Peter
used this as an
opportunity to lift up
Jesus Christ as the center
of their lives. But he
pointed out in painfully
direct language in the
paragraph that goes from
verse 11 to verse 16: "You
killed him!" He didn't say
other people did. He
didn't baby this crowd or
speak politely. He got
right in their grill. "Why
does this surprise you?"
Look how many times the
word "you" is used. "Why
does this surprise you?
The God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, the God of our
fathers, glorified his
servant Jesus. But you
handed him over to be
killed. You disowned him
before Pilate, though he
had decided to let him go.
You disowned the Holy and
Righteous One and asked
that a murderer be
released. You killed the
author of life but God
raised him from the dead.
By faith in the name of
Jesus, this man whom you
see and know was made
strong. It's in Jesus'
name and the faith that
comes through him that has
given this complete
healing to him, as you can
all - as you can all see."
Whoa. Rule number one for
public speaking is always
kiss up to your audience
[Audience: Laughter].
Isn't it? Isn't that so?
You always try to make
your audience feel good
about themselves; that's
just the rule. You don't
want to get hostile;
they'll get angry. If
people are going to pay
money to get a ticket to
see or hear you, you've
got to make them feel
good. You've got to
entertain them. You've got
to make them laugh, make
them cry, make them feel
something. He got right in
their face and basically
told them, "You have
attacked God and you're in
big trouble." But he did
that only to get their
attention. The next
paragraph - and I want to
go a little more slowly
through this - this is the
point of it all. Here's
the juice of it: Christ
for the world brings
comfort to fools and
sinners, even people who
betrayed and crucified the
Son of God. Even sins that
bad have been forgiven by
him. Amazing! "Now,
brothers," he said, "I
know you acted in
ignorance, as did your
leaders. But this is how
God fulfilled what he had
foretold through all the
prophets, saying that his
Christ would suffer."
Peter can talk with some
kind of particular
intensity on this point
because he had missed so
much of this, too. Just a
few days and weeks
earlier, he had argued
with Jesus: Don't talk
about this dying stuff.
And Jesus actually told
Peter - remember what he
said when Peter tried to
talk him out of going to
the cross? He said, "Get
behind me," and he didn't
call him Pete. What name
did Jesus put on him? You
get an extra donut at
coffee hour if you can
tell me the name Jesus
called Peter. "Get behind
me, Satan." We need a lot
of extra donuts; can
somebody please go get
some more donuts?
[Audience: Laughter]. Get
behind me, Satan! So
Peter's being humbled
saying this because he
didn't get it either. Now
it makes sense! Now when I
think about what I've read
in the prophets, of
course! The golden thread
of the testimony of the
Messiah is all over the
Old Testament! It's not
like the New Testament's
about Jesus and the Old
Testament's about Israel.
Both testaments are all
about Christ and the story
of what Jesus was called
to do runs throughout the
whole thing, including the
suffering. When most
Israelites at this time
heard the word "Messiah,"
they think Son of David.
Okay, David, King David,
part two. Son of David
means - they don't want
the part of David's life
where he was on the run
from Saul, hiding in
caves, scrounging,
probably eating desert
rabbits and whatever he
could scrounge to eat,
always on the run, afraid
he was going to get
killed. Ragtag little
band, kind of outlaws,
hanging out in the desert.
No, no, no, no. They were
dreaming of the end of
David's reign where he's
wealthy, where he controls
an enormous swath of
territory in the Middle
East. He's got a palace to
live in. Finally there's
no more wars. They're at
peace because they pretty
much conquered everybody
around them. That's what
people wanted! They
weren't thinking that God
was going to send them the
Messiah to suffer; that
just made no sense. Made
no sense at all! Like
God's giving you the
business to run so that it
can collapse. Like what?
That makes no sense. It
didn't make any sense to
have a dying Messiah but
Peter says, "Now I get
it," and you need to get
it, too. "Didn't our
prophets tell us that the
Christ would suffer? That
is how the payment is
made. Repent then and turn
to God." So that's the
pivotal word right here
and he's speaking to them
but he's talking to you,
too. And we need to pause
just a minute and go over
this concept of repenting.
What goes on in your head
when you hear that word?
Something other people
ought to do who have been
jerky to you? No, it's
something you need to do,
too. In fact, on a daily
basis. Repenting starts,
number one, with honestly
recognizing that you are
accountable to your
Creator. You are not your
own; you were made. You
don't have a decision to
make whether or not to let
God in your world. Pop
your eyes open and realize
you are in God's world and
you are accountable to
him. Your Maker has every
right to lay out his
behavioral expectations of
you. You don't get to make
up your own morality, your
own rules of right and
wrong. You are accountable
and, secondly, you have
the obligation to discover
for yourself what God's
agenda is; not tell God
what your agenda is. You
don't like how this is
going, do you? This is a
squirmy thought, isn't it?
You are not your own; you
don't belong to yourself.
You don't get to define
your own ideas of good and
bad. Third, his holy
expectations are far
beyond your ability to
execute. You're guilty
before him. You have
fallen short of your
God-given obligations and
you're in trouble. He will
judge - point number four.
He will judge you starting
now. Some of God's
judgments are happening
now. Every sin will be
judged in time on the
great Day of Judgment. But
repentance also means in
humility asking for mercy
for God to do for you what
you cannot do for
yourself. Humbling
yourself to ask for help.
Most of us are way too
stubborn and proud;
especially the men. We
can't hardly even ask for
directions how to drive;
how much less can we ask
for help from God to clean
up the messes we've made
in our lives and to
restore a good
relationship with him? In
humility, asking for
mercy. But the next piece
is the most important of
all: Recognizing that in
Christ, God answers that
plea for mercy. And here's
the fruit of repentance;
here's what happens to
people who repent. Listen
to how Peter puts it; it's
so beautiful: "Repent and
turn to God so that,"
what? "Your sins may be
wiped out." Obliterated by
his doing, not by yours.
"That times of refreshing
may come from the Lord."
This refreshing is like
breathing space; it means
relax. R-e-l-a-x. Relief.
That good feeling. I can
start to like myself
again. I'm not such a
loser. I don't have to
live each day in fear that
the hammer's going to fall
down or that the other
shoe is finally going to
drop and my bad days are
going to catch up with me.
God starts over and you
can just breathe deep and
say, "Ah." Refresh. A
reboot. For all you
computer heads out there,
it's like a reboot and you
get a whole new screen and
you can write the rest of
your life without the
baggage of the past
because your past has been
obliterated and you can
start over; the ultimate
mulligan, if you're a
golfer like me. "Times of
refreshing may come from
the Lord and that he may
send the Christ," so you
get it, too. He's for you
through his word. "He's
been appointed for you."
He's in heaven for now -
heaven has to receive him
- "until the time comes
for God to restore
everything." So there was
not going to be a binge of
crippled-man healings.
This was a one-off. The
apostles may have done
some other healings but
mainly, that is not going
to be a central feature of
the life of congregations.
You and I are not armed
and equipped with this
power to go through
hospitals and assisted
living centers and one by
one, get people in walkers
to throw them away and
start running around again
because Jesus is going to
do that in the future. But
what we've seen is that
this is what God is
capable of and what he
will do again. When Christ
returns, you and I are
going to witness on a
massive scale what we see
through the pages of
Scripture here, just this
one poor guy who got
dragged and dumped on his
mat; hoping someone would
be around when he had to
go to the bathroom or else
what else is there to do?
If nobody's around, he's
in a tough spot. And now,
he leaped to his feet.
You're going to see that
because we will - all of
our brokenness - is going
to be healed all at once
like that; in a flash, in
the twinkling of an eye.
We will be raised
incorruptible, Scripture
says. What a promise!
That's what we have to
look forward to. And this
story in Scripture shows
us that God is able to do
that and willing. What he
did on a small scale, he's
going to do on a grand
scale. "The Lord your God
will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among
your own people." This is
a quote from Deuteronomy.
"You must listen to
everything he tells you,"
that was from Moses. "And
anyone who does not listen
to him will be completely
cut off from among his
people." So that is on you
today. As it was on them;
it's on you. Listen to
this message while you
have a chance. "Indeed,
all the prophets from
Samuel on, as many as have
spoken, have foretold
these days." It finally
dawned on Peter that all
of God's Old Testament
witness is Christocentric;
it rotates around Christ.
"And you're heirs of the
prophet and the covenant
God made with your
fathers. He said to
Abraham, 'Through your
offspring,'" meaning
Jesus, "all peoples on
earth will be blessed." To
finally explain that
slightly cryptic passage
from Genesis 22. "When God
raised up his servant, he
sent him first to you to
bless you by turning each
of you from your wicked
ways." There's one more
little kind of zing and
then they, in turn, need
to become tellers of the
story to blow it out all
over the world. But God's
intent was that through
Abraham's descendent, all
the world would be
blessed. So now you have
it; now it's up to you to
decide what you're going
to do with it. You also
need to repent today. In
part of our worship
service earlier, we went
through the ritual of
confession but you need to
mean it, too. And here's
my challenge to you: To
mean what you said.
Recognize you're
accountability. Recognize
that you've fallen short.
Recognize that God's wrath
comes on all who have
defied and rebelled
against him. It's his
game; not yours. Humble
yourself and ask for
mercy. Receive and believe
God's answer to that
prayer and believe in the
mercy that comes through
Christ that obliterates
your sins and gives you a
time of refreshing. And
that time of refreshing
will give you both the
knowledge and the emotion
and the power and strength
to make the changes you
need to make. So if you're
anything like me, if you
get a job too big, it
paralyzes me and so I sit
down and do nothing. So
I'm going to give you just
one little challenge today
and that is to pick one
thing in your life that
you know needs fixing
right now because that's
part of repentance, as
well. And this is a
paradox; you cannot smush
this together or all you
get is a lot of shades of
gray with no juice to it.
There's a paradox. On the
one side of this paradox,
God accepts you as you
are. Without regard to
what a mess you've been -
even to people who
crucified the Son of God -
there is mercy and
forgiveness and your past
is washed away and your
sins are obliterated.
Having done that and given
times of refreshing and
planted faith and given
the Holy Spirit and Christ
has come to you, God does
not accept you as you are.
That's the old you. He
wants to see a new you.
And not just say, "Oh God,
I'm a mess. Get used to
it, Lord; that's who I am.
Fix me in heaven. See,
come and call for me, I'll
be waiting." And then you
go back to your old
miserable patterns of
life. No, you can start on
that now. Having been
loved, you want to love
God back by making the
changes you need to make.
I'll give you just two
examples. Let's take your
attitude about money. Do
you see your money as
yours or do you see it as
what it really is,
belonging to God? Do you
see yourself as a manager
of God's stuff? Or are you
a hoarder and you say "me"
and "mine?" Is God
involved in the way you
make your spending
decisions? Do you ever
consult him? Do you think
about God as it's going
out of your wallet and out
of your checkbook and out
of your bank account? Is
God the number one
reference point for the
way in which you spend and
save and give? There's a
second one: Is God
involved in the way in
which you express your
sexuality? Or because the
world has pretty much said
keeping sex within
marriage is an ancient,
outdated, antiquated, old
wives tale and, frankly,
just needs to be blown
away. Everybody, all my
friends, live with their
boyfriends. All my friends
live with their
girlfriends. All my
friends just see that that
is just how we are today.
And do you let the culture
excuse the way you live?
Or do you realize that the
Sixth Commandment about
not committing adultery
actually has not been
rescinded and it's still
there? So pick one thing.
Those are just two
examples; I could mention
100 more and you don't
want to hear all mine; all
the things I need to work
on. So I've got my one
thing and I invite you to
take your one thing -
maybe it's one of these
two things or maybe it's
something else. Maybe
you're bitter and angry
and you just will not let
go because, frankly, you
like being angry. Or
you've settled for the
fact that you can't
change. Here's
encouragement that times
of refreshing give you the
ability and power to
believe in God's forgiving
love but also to release
God's power in your life
to honor him as your
Creator, Savior, and power
source. The Holy Spirit's
your counselor, friend and
power source. Hope this
makes sense to you because
that's my challenge to you
today. This is good news
for God's people. May the
times of refreshing make
you glad to be alive;
eager to serve God today
and always. Let all God's
people say, "Amen!"
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MICHAEL
NOVOTNY] Thank you so
much, Pastor Jeske, for
that great reminder.
Nothing is more beautiful
than realizing God doesn't
love him or her or just
them; but he loves you and
he loves me. So let's
embrace the full
forgiveness that we have
as individual sinners
who've been individually
saved by Jesus. I'll be
back with you in a moment
to pray. [PROMOTION] Right
now, there is an urgent
need to reach a generation
that isn't engaged in
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TIME to 313131. [PASTOR
MICHAEL NOVOTNY] We've
been talking a lot today
about the individual
relationship between a
person and God but we
don't want to lose sight
of the power of the
community of prayer. We at
Time of Grace are so
blessed by you, by your
prayers for us, by your
generous support of us,
and so we would love to
return the favor and pray
for you. So if there's
something going on in your
life, something spiritual
or physical, reach out to
us and let us know. We'd
love to support you so
that you can embrace every
power that God has made to
you in his Son. So let's
pray. Dear Jesus, Thank
you for personal love.
Thank you that you don't
give generic promises but
our burdens and our
struggles and our sins
matter personally to you.
Thank you that you love
the whole world, which
means we don't have to
wonder if we are one of
the people that you love
because your love is
all-inclusive. I pray
today, God, that that
promise would sink so
deeply into our heart that
whatever embarrassment or
regret or guilt or shame
that we fear could be left
at the cross. Help us to
believe in the personal
love of a real Father to a
real person just like us.
Thank you, God, for all
the promises that you do
give. Thank you for the
incredible grace and the
mercy that's new every
single morning. I pray
that we can embrace it
today and find incredible
peace and joy because of
it. We ask this all in
Jesus' name, Amen. With
Time of Grace, I'm Pastor
Mike Novotny, and because
of the crazy, unstoppable
love of Jesus, it all
starts now. [PASTOR MARK
JESKE] I am absolutely
thrilled to have a
personal opportunity to
express my thanks to you
and my appreciation to all
of you who have chosen to
become Grace Partners.
Together, you and I are on
an amazing adventure.
Through Time of Grace's
print materials, through
the broadcast of the
television program, and
through digital
distribution, through the
internet, you and I
together touch millions of
people each month. Isn't
that extraordinary? I want
to say thank you. For our
monthly donors, we invite
you to consider yourself
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Partners. If you have not
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and consider becoming part
of the team and joining
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team.
[MUSIC]
[ANNOUNCER]
The preceding program was
sponsored by the friends
and partners of Time of
Grace.
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