What are we doing as a congregation?

2. What are we doing as a congregation?

3. There is no more important work on earth than “Constructing a Christian.” • That’s the instruction Jesus gave.

4. There is no more important work on earth than “Constructing a Christian.” • That’s the instruction Jesus gave. “Go . . . and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20, ESV). • Notice that Jesus doesn’t just want disciples made, but he wants them built. • The disciples are to build up new Christians by “teaching them to observe all” of Jesus’ instructions.

5. There is no more important work on earth than “Constructing a Christian.” • That’s the instruction Jesus gave (Mt 28:19-20). • Prayerfully, we parents are engaged in that task. • “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4, ESV). • What more important legacy could we leave our children than building them up into mature Christians?

6. There is no more important work on earth than “Constructing a Christian.” • That’s the instruction Jesus gave (Mt 28:19-20). • Prayerfully, we parents are engaged in that task (Eph 6:4). • We have an obligation to build up ourselves in Christ. • “Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity” (Heb 6:1, ESV). • Paul is an example.

7. There is no more important work on earth than “Constructing a Christian.” • That’s the instruction Jesus gave (Mt 28:19-20). • Prayerfully, we parents are engaged in that task (Eph 6:4). • We have an obligation to build up ourselves in Christ. • “Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity” (Heb 6:1, ESV). • Paul is an example. “Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9:22, ESV).

8. Acts 8:14-17

9. This text does concern the bestowal of a supernatural gift. • Luke makes it clear we can’t have this gift today. • When the apostles heard that the Samaritans had accepted the Gospel, they sent Peter & John to them. • Why didn’t Philip simply give them this gift? • Surely that would have been easier! • “Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands” (Acts 8:18, ESV). • Because there are no apostles today, this gift of the Spirit is not available today. • We don’t need to spend a lot of time on that this morning.

10. There are principles we can apply today. • A Construction Crew • A Construction Code

11. A Construction Code v 17

12. The apostles “laid their hands on [the Samaritans] and they received the Holy Spirit” (v 17, ESV). • If we wish to build successfully, we must have a code, a blueprint. The Holy Spirit serves as the Code, Blueprint for building new Christians.

13. In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit served two main purposes. • One: He authenticated the apostles’ message. • The gospel “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Heb 2:3-4, ESV). • “If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Cor 14:24-25, ESV).

14. In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit served two main purposes. • One: He authenticated the apostles’ message. • Two: He enabled some men to speak directly from God. • “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Mt 10:19-20, ESV).

15. In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit served two main purposes. • One: He authenticated the apostles’ message. • Two: He enabled some men to speak directly from God. • Mt 10:19-20. • Even some non-apostles could speak from God. • When the synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen, “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10, ESV).

16. In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit served two main purposes. • One: He authenticated the apostles’ message. • Two: He enabled some men to speak directly from God. • Mt 10:19-20. • Even some non-apostles could speak from God. • Acts 6:10. • “In these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius)” (Acts 11:27-28, ESV).

17. In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit served two main purposes. • Thus, the Holy Spirit provided “The Construction Code” whereby these disciples could be built in the faith.

18. The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction Code” through the Scriptures he inspired. • The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit.

19. The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction Code” through the Scriptures he inspired. • The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit. “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pt 1:20-21, ESV).

20. The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction Code” through the Scriptures he inspired. • The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:20-21). • The Scriptures establish the validity of Jesus’ message. • “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:30-31, ESV). • We no longer need the miraculous measure of the Spirit, for the Scriptures authenticate Jesus’ message.

21. The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction Code” through the Scriptures he inspired. • The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:20-21). • The Scriptures establish the validity of Jesus’ message (Jn 20:30-31). • Throughout the New Testament, the authors claimed to speak from God. • “This we declare to you by a word from the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15, ESV). • “I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you” (1 Cor 11:23, ESV).

22. The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction Code” through the Scriptures he inspired. • The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:20-21). • The Scriptures establish the validity of Jesus’ message (Jn 20:30-31). • Throughout the New Testament, the authors claimed to speak from God (1 Thess 4:15; 1 Cor 11:23). • We have in Scripture the same benefit the early church had through the miraculous measure of the Spirit.

23. What does this have to do with “Constructing a Christian”? • Faith can be greatly strengthened through the Scriptures. • “Now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32, ESV). • Woodrow Wilson: “I ask every man and woman in this audience that from this day on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great Book.”

24. Issues far more important than the American destiny lie in the daily study of Scripture! Heaven & hell hang in the balance!!

25. Do we spend time in Scripture that we might grow in the faith? Do we help others grow in the faith through Scripture?

26. A Construction Crew vv 14-16

27. “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (vv 14-16, ESV).

28. The apostles served as “A Construction Crew” for the new brethren in Samaria. • The apostles sent Peter & John to Samaria to strengthen the brothers. • Many are needed to strengthen new converts today.

29. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness” (Rom 12:6-8, ESV). • Except for prophecy, those gifts are still available & important in the strengthening of new Christians. • What talent do you have for construction?

30. Had it not been for Barnabas & the apostles, Paul may have strayed shortly after becoming a Christian. • “When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord” (Acts 9:26-28, ESV).

31. Had it not been for Barnabas & the apostles, Paul may have strayed shortly after becoming a Christian. • Acts 9:26-28. • The God of Second Chances gave that murderous thug another opportunity. • Barnabas & the apostles knew about the God of Second Chances & extended a hand to Paul. • Where might the church be if it weren’t for Barnabas & the apostles? • Yes, God would have revealed his will some other way. • But, isn’t it partially true that we know some of God’s truth because Barnabas & the apostles extended a hand to help Paul?

32. How might the history of this church be altered because some decide to become “A Construction Crew”? What talents do you have to help build others in the faith?

33. We can’t bestow the Spirit as the apostles did in this text. • But, they do something each one of us can do for new converts. • Peter & John “came down and prayed for [the Samaritans] that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (vv 15-16, ESV). • Can we not pray for new Christians?

34. Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be built up in the faith.

35. Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be built up in the faith. Eph 3:14-19. • Paul prayed a similar prayer for the Colossians.

36. Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be built up in the faith. Eph 3:14-19. • Paul prayed a similar prayer for the Colossians. “From the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:9-10, ESV).

37. Shall we pray for others to be built in the faith?

38. Do you need to be constructed into a Christian?

39. Have you become a Christian & like Simon in Acts 8 have wandered from the truth & stand in need of prayer?

40. Do you need, like the Samaritans at the beginning of Acts 8, need to come & be baptized?