if you have a Bible and I hope you do let me invite you to open with me to Acts chapter 3 I am as always so thankful honored uh to be back on this campus Dr Kelly I am indebted to God's grace and you and in this Seminary family um investment that the Seminary family and you Dr Kelly have made in my life is um unexplainable and my gratitude is deep for God's grace in this place and people represented around this room that I see their their faces I like like many people uh around here
a few years ago uh lost everything Katrina Heather and I live in just off campus over near Edgewater Baptist Church and you know when when we lost everything it was it was an opportunity like like you don't get many times in this life to just start over in this materialistic stuff driven culture I remember Heather and I talking okay this is our opportunity to just start from the beginning and and build our lives wisely on Less on stuff and more on what what matters and if I can be honest with you uh we we missed
our shot within a year a a large church had asked me to be in preaching there and asked me to Pastor there and within a year of that hurricane we found ourselves living in a larger house with more stuff than we ever had and in the the eyes of the world in the eyes of the uh of the church world is living the dream but in inside I had a sinking feeling that was missing the point that I was living out a nice comfortable Christian spin on the American dream and leading a church that was
doing the same thing and I began to think what am I doing there's there's 6.8 billion people in the world even the most liberal estimate would put the world at about onethird Christian and that's people who in many contexts claim to be Christian it's more of a social or political identification in many ways but even if we assumed all of those people people were actually followers of Christ that still leaves over 4 and a half billion people who at this moment are without Christ and on a road that leads to an eternal hell 4 and
a half billion and you add on top of vast spiritual need vast physical need the reality that a billion people in the world at this moment are living dying in Desperate poverty un less than a dollar a day two billion others living on less than $2 a day that's nearly half the world living relying for food and water and shelter and clothes and Medical Care on what I'll spend on French fries for lunch and what scares me is that I can be successful in my life and successful in our church culture and turn a deaf
ear to those realities I can I can be successful and not do anything for the sake of billions of poor neighbors in our world and be successful and turn a death fear to thousands over 6,000 people groups that are still not reached with the gospel so I could be successful in our church culture and ignore those things but here was the crisis of belief for me can I believe the gospel and ignore those things and the answer to that question is absolutely not you can't believe the gospel and ignore urgent spiritual and physical need around
you in the world gospel theology necessitates urgent myology necessitates leaving behind a Christian spend on the American dream and giving our lives and his church spending ourselves for his name's sake among all peoples and so so that's where I want to bring bring us to in Acts chapter 3 I want to show us the fruit of gospel theology urgent myology we've got in Acts chapter 2 the spirit coming down at Pentecost and the first Christian sermon being preached the gospel's initial Proclamation so to speak in Acts chapter 2 and summarized in that statement that Peter
says God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ so the gospel is preached and you know what happens they were cut to the heart and Peter calls them to repentance and 3,000 people were added to their number that day and then you get this summary paragraph right before Acts chapter 3 and in Acts 2: 42-47 they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and awe Came Upon every soul and Many Wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and listen to
this picture of community all believed were together had all things in common they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received food with glad and generous Hearts praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved this is Spirit inaugurated gospel driven community in what seems like its purest form what I want us to look at is the portrait
that we see right after this in Acts chap 3 verse 1 and10 and I want us to see how the spirit of God and the Community of Faith through the gospel created an urgent mythology in the church and I I want us to I want us to see two simple truths In this passage well let's read it together Acts chapter 3 verse 1 Peter and John were going up to the temple at The Hour of Prayer the ninth hour and a man lame from birth was being carried whom they laid daily at the Gate of
the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entertaining the temple and entering the temple seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple he asked to receive alms and Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said look at us and he fixed his attention on them expecting to receive something from them but Peter said I have no silver and gold but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he took him by the
right hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and leaping up he stood and began to walk and enter the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God and all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him two truths number one the gospel compels radical concern for the needs of the world around us the gospel compels radical concern
for the needs of the world around us I love the the contrast between the end of Acts chapter 2 and the beginning of Acts chapter 3 end of Acts chapter 2 3,000 people are saved now this is a group that started with 120 in Acts chapter 1 you go from 120 to 3,000 that's a good day in the church that's can you imagine Congregation of 120 one week 3,000 the next week that's that's good church growth spirit of God like knows how to do Church Church growth like better than us so so you see this
growth happen but then the very next portrait we see in the book of Acts that Luke gives us is Peter and John focusing fixed on one man that everybody else is ignoring don't miss the picture here those who are most effective in reaching the many are those who are most passionate about reaching the one you see this yes there are massive numbers of lost and unreached and this plays itself out in a passion for the Lost person on the street of New Orleans or Birmingham these are individual Souls lives God has fashioned for his glory
that you and I proclaim the gospel to and this is what this is what the disciples had seen in Jesus isn't it they had seen him in the middle of a crowd stopped for the woman with the flow of blood or stop for the blind man or stop for the guy up in the tree Jesus drawn to the one the early church drawn to the one to the needs of the one right in front of them they can't walk by and turn a deaf ear this was the mark of the early church you know that
in those first few centuries before Constantine legalized Christianity as apologists were defending the faith faith that yes they would they would defend the the Divinity of Christ and the humanity of Christ but one of the greatest methods of apologetics in the early church was pointing to the church like you want to see that the gospel is true look at the church one apology the apology of aristedes he wrote To The King now the Christians oh King by going about and seeking have found the truth for they know and trust in God the maker of heaven
and Earth who has no fellow from him they receive those Commandments which they have engraved on their minds and which they observe in the hope and expectation of the world to come they refuse he said to worship strange gods they go their way in all humility and cheerfulness falsehood is not found among them they love one another the Widow's needs are not ignored and they rescue the orphan from the person who does him violence he who has gives to him who has not ungrudgingly without boasting when the Christians find a stranger they bring him to
their homes and rejoice over him as a true brother they do not call Brothers those who are Bound by Blood Ties alone but those who are Brethren after the spirit and in God when one of their poor passes away from the world each provides for his burial according to his ability if they hear of any of their number who are imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah they all provide for his needs and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free listen to this if they find poverty in their midst
and they do not have spare food they fast two or three days in order that the needy might be supplied with the Necessities they observe scrupulously the Commandments of their Messiah living honestly and soberly as the Lord their God ordered them every morning and every hour they praise and thank God for his goodness to them and for their food and drink they offer Thanksgiving such oh King is the Commandment given to the Christians and such is their conduct gospel alive in the Community of Faith and their concern for the needs of those around them you
know I was I was preaching uh through James last fall and James will mess you up like you can't just listen to it you've got to like do it and and so we get to James 1 27 and and we see that profound statement the religion that God our Father looks at as pure and faal as this to look after orphans and widows and their distress that's that's a strong statement and by God's grace for for many years the the church at Brook Hills has placed a priority on adoption when Heather and I got to
Brook Hills we were in the process of adopting our first son and we didn't know a ton of other people who had adopted and so we were kind of an anoboy in some of the circles we ran in and when we talk to people about adoption they kind of be surprised when we got to Brook Hills like nobody was surprised we would say we were adopting and the first question people would ask us was well how many uh one and they would say oh and kind of walk away as if to say that's all we
do this in the ens around here so and they do and so that that's been prevalent by God's grace but this year last year as we were studying James the Lord by his grace just took this to a whole other level we called up uh the Department of Human Resources in our County and said do you have any needs when it comes to to foster care and adoption with children in our County and they laughed and they said we have tons of needs and so well how many families would it take to meet all the
needs that you have with foster care and adoption they laughed again I said no really like if there was a miracle how many families would it take and I said I mean a miracle would be like 150 families but we'll take just any any amount we can get said okay we studied James 1 two weeks later we had an informational meeting and that night 160 of our families signed up to do foster care here in adoption in our County to say we want to make sure that every child in our county has as best as
we can loving arms around them at night and this picture began to grow but here's where I want us to see this I want us to see the connection here between the gospel and radical concern because care for Orphans orphan care is distinctively and uniquely cross driven gospel driven we were in Psalm 10 this last week talking about this we we've got to see this like it's it's trendy to do social justice in our day it's cool to do orphan care like Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie and Madonna and Bono and American Idol they all
tell us to do orphan care and we've got to picture that it's it's humanitarian it's driven by mere altruism and so we find ourselves even in our church culture kind of jumping on that bandwagon we've got to be careful though because if we're not careful we'll miss the whole point it's not humanitarianism it's not altruism it's not this cool trendy thing it's it's not this I don't think anyone of us would say this out loud but it's it's not this thought that hey it would be kind of of neat to have a cute adorable child
from another country in our Christmas family picture to send out to others you see here's the problem what what happens when the child that you adopt is not so cute what happens when the child that you adopt has fetal alcohol syndrome and can't sit still for any one of your family pictures without throwing a tantrum what happens when the child that you adopt has a terminal disease that threatens the health of your other children what happens when the child that you adopt had a mom who was addicted to crack and when he was born he
faced all kinds of brain and mental developmental delays such that he doesn't know how to act around other people and his teenage years become a living nightmare for you what happens when the child you adopt has spent years in an Institutional orphanage learning to cope without the love of a mom or dad so that when you try to show them love they have no idea how to receive it so they rejected at every turn what happens when the child you adopt is dangerous mere altruism doesn't get you through that the only thing that gets you
through that is the cross of Jesus Christ you say what do you mean adoption cross driven gospel driven because at the cross we realize that every single one of Us in this room at one point we in a pit of our own sin with uncontrollable sinful desires that pulled us away from God and there was nothing absolutely nothing in us to attract him to us and yet he pursued us he pursued us with grace and mercy and perseverance through our constant Rebellion against him he still in patience came running after us and even when he
brought us out of that pit to become his children we still walk in unfaithfulness prone to wander and to rebel against his love and his Mercy to reject it when we realize this core truth of the Gospel then we are free to to love the unlovable and to care for the uncontrollable and to love in a way that is radically different than the rest of this world that's what the gospel does it creates a love that is far different than what we hear about and see about in our culture around us and that's why the
The Church Must lead the way in caring for Orphans and widows and difficult circumstances radical concern for the needs of the world around us that's that's the picture the gospel compels radical concern for the needs of the world around us a unique distinctive concern for the needs of the world around us second Truth The Gospel creates radical confidence in the name of the one who saved us the gospel creates radical confidence in the name of the one who saved us in this passage Peter and John say look at us and he fixed his attention on
them now I want you to think about what happens after this like who's the hero in this story maybe maybe Peter it takes a lot of guts to go up to a guy who has been lame from birth and say stand up and walk you go into a context around the world and you see someone on the side of the streets lame and you think of the boldness that would be involved in going up to them or going up to someone in our culture who has never walked and saying get that that that takes Cuts
maybe Peter's the hero of the story maybe it's maybe it's John uh best actor in a supporting role I don't know John was important somehow maybe it's John or maybe it's the man he's jumping up and down he's singing and praising God I don't think Peter or John or the lame man are the hero in the story The Hero in this story story is the name of Jesus Christ I have no silver or gold but what I have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk now I
want you to see how there is an intentional emphasis in the rest of this story on the power that is found in the Name of Christ you see it there in verse six you might even Circle it there then go down with me to verse 16 and look at look at what Peter says his name there it is again by faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know and the faith that is through Jesus has given you the man this given the man this perfect health in the presence of
you all his name Faith in his name has done this you get over to chapter 4 verse 7 as Peter and John are brought before the council listen to what happens when they had set them in the midst they inquired by what power or by what name did you do this they knew that there was a name behind this there was power in the name that was behind this you get to verse 10 and Peter responds let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by this man by him this man is standing before you well you get to verse 12 you know this verse there's salvation and no one else for there's no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved you get to verse 18 the council catches on and so listen to what they do they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus they knew there was power in this name you get to verse it it
continues on verse 30 and throughout the rest of of this book if we had time we could walk through and show how Luke is constantly pointing us to the name of Christ by the name power of the name of Christ people are being healed of diseases being raised from the dead by the power of the name of Christ demons are fleeing people are risking their lives for the name of Christ there's power in this name I've I've shared before about uh time in in Indonesian in Indonesia world's largest Muslim dominated nation in a seminary where
in order to graduate from the Seminary uh every student has to plant a church in a Muslim Community with at least 30 new baptized Believers so we won't we won't ask like how many US would go go to that Seminary like that's that's a heavy requirement it spoke of their graduation every student sitting in front of me had planted a church in a Muslim Community with at least 30 new baptized Believers two two of their classmates had died in the process so these are our brothers and sisters in seminary on the other side of the
world and as we got to know them and got to know their stories one of them show shared with us how he before he came to Christ he was a fighter he knew ninja and jiujitsu and he listed all these other things off he said I could take people down and we said we'll take your word for it bro and he said when he came to Christ everything changed and he said he was in a village one time unreached Village sharing the gospel in this home and the witch doctor from that Village came to that
home where he was sharing the gospel and confronted him basically called him out to pick a fight with him and so this guy said I turned around and walk out of the house I was ready to take the witch doctor down and he said as I was walking out he said the Lord said to me you don't do the fighting anymore I do the fighting for you so he walked out of the house he pulled up a chair he sat down in front of this guy the witch doctor and said Tim I don't do the
fighting anymore my God does the fighting for me and he said as the witch doctor began to speak he began to gasp for air choking on his own words and within a few moments fell over dead right in front of him he said I didn't know what to do so I just preached the gospel he said people like started coming to Christ now I don't like recommend this particular method but I do want to remind us of this 2,000 years ago there was a name that when it was proclaimed it caused the dead to rise
and demons to flee and 2,000 years later the name is still good and there is not one soul in the community where you serve in this City or the city where I live there is not one soul that is beyond the power of the name of Christ to save radical confidence in the name this is huge we know we cannot control the trends in the culture around us but we can control our confidence in the name of the one who saved us this is huge we we go we Minister we live and the power in
the name of of the name of Christ like this is Ephesians 1:22 and 23 when we see that God has put all things under his feet under him for the church who fills everything in every way like God has given authority to Christ for for the church he has he given all authority to Christ he has entrusted Christ to the church with all the authority do we realize this like you and I go out in the word in the Name of Christ in the authority of Christ there's nothing that can stop you when you realize
that whether it's the hardest place in New Orleans or the most difficult unreached people group you go in the power of the name of Christ you like win every time do we believe this like I remember I remember when I got when I got married to my wife and we I she was a year older than me and so she had finished up school and I was finishing up College which meant I was living the college life no cash flow eating ramen noodles just making it she on the other hand had gotten a job teaching
5-year-olds and and she had cash flow and she didn't eat ramen noodles so that was the picture leading up to our wedding and on that day where we stood at an altar and United our lives together on that day I received so many wonderful things most importantly being a precious Godly wife but do you know what else I received on that day cash Flo it's awesome like one moment no cash flow within an instant cash flow one moment nothing in my bank account like the next moment a full bank account in that instant praise God
everything that was hers became mine and I didn't have to do anything like I didn't have to go teach her fiveyear olds and do what she does every day simply by the fact that my life was United with hers everything that belonged to her now belong to me oh this is it is much more glorious isn't it the reality that when you and I unite our lives with Christ everything that belongs to him his righteousness his Holiness his Redemption his power becomes ours he's entrusted it to us oh rest in this rest in the authority
of the name of Christ this so doesn't this free us up isn't it good to know that our Effectiveness in Ministry in a world with such need that our Effectiveness in Ministry is not based on what we bring to the table let's be honest we're not in this room because we're the sharpest tools in the shed we're here because we're the weak things of the world and God has chosen the weak things of the world to show his strength and power and author Authority in so that he gets great Glory that's the picture radical confidence
in the Name of Christ The Gospel compels radical concern for the needs of the world around us creates radical confidence in the name of the one who saved us and the early church had both what I want what I want us to remember is that we will be tempted at every turn to focus on one without the other they had both we we tried to pull those apart confidence in the Name of Christ without concern for the needs of the world around us preaching the word knowing theology knowing the The Depths pursuing the depths of
who Christ is all the while turning a deaf fear into urgent spiritual and physical need around us we know that that kind of Faith James says is dead it's dead no matter what we say or sing on Sunday mornings rich people who neglect the poor are not the people of God the other danger is to have concern without confidence to have concern for the needs of the world around us and yet to leave the power of the name of Christ behind such that when we are caring for concern we don't even speak his name this
is a constant pull the world would be glad for us to do social justice apart from the name of Christ and we in a sense in our sinful Hearts would be glad to do the same I know in the church that God has entrusted me to Pastor it is easier for me as Pastor to persuade them to care for the poor than it is to persuade them to share the gospel and I'm convinced the adversary would be just fine with us clothing people on their way to hell concern without confidence misses the whole point it's
both it's both together what does this look like this is what uh we constantly wrestling with praying for what for the gospel to produce this kind of care and concern as we were studying through James this last fall we were in the middle of budget season I hate budget season because it's where we come face to face with with how little we believe the gospel at least in the church that I pastor with the with the amount we spend on ourselves it begs the question do we really believe the gospel and so we were studying
James 2 what good is it if you say you have faith and have no Deeds say to your brothers and sisters go we wish you well keep warm and wellfed but do nothing about their physical needs what good is that faith without action dead and so so he said okay we we got a cut like everywhere cut cut cut we've got to free up resources for what matters instead of Designing programs and spending money all the time on ourselves and so we went through a process where we challenged one another in our leadership to to
cut everywhere we could our worship team cut 83% of their budget which shows we had a little fluff in there somewhere like but said okay we don't need all this stuff and there's big things there little things there was our our our preschool ladies who said you know our kids have breakfast and they go home to a big lunch why do we have to fill them with this assortment of snacks every Sunday morning getting rid of this assortment of snacks and so my uh my four-year-old old son a couple of weeks later gets in the
car and we're driving home from church and I said I was church buddy and he said well we didn't have any goldfish daddy and my wife said that's your Daddy's fault you know buddy little things big thing how can we spend our lives for the glory of Christ amidst urgent need this is what the gospel in US compels us to do and I don't I don't know what this looks like in every one of our lives or churches but I pray that God will create urgent myology through gospel theology I I want to read a
letter to you that I that I received this last fall and it's it's a little bit lengthy but I think I think it's worth it somebody who had begun attending the church he said dear Dr plaid and the church at kills I assume based on what others have said about you and the faith family at brills that you are accustomed to receiving complimentary letters I hope that you will indulge me as I write to you from a different perspective my letter could be considered more of a complaint or a warning that is not how you
want a two-page letter to begin this letter is intended to Enlighten you as to how radical actions and teachings related to God's word have been destroying my life life and probably the lives of others like me let me explain I was raised unchurched by loving parents who were perfectly content with their lives the worldly perspective I grew up with allowed me to see the hypocrisy in the lives of the few church-going families to which I had been exposed thus As I Grew into a worldly man I found myself on the path to the American dream
this path as far as I could see did not go through or even near a church I went to college and then grad school married a kind and beautiful woman got a decent respectable job which allowed me to ultimately buy a house and make maximum contributions to a 401k my wife and I eventually had a family with two beautiful daughters and a couple of dogs I was living the middle class version of the American Dre dream I was a kind decent Family Man grounded in the realities of this world I was perfectly content to devote
myself to working hard to provide the financial resources my family would need 401K retirement plan 529 College savings plan a general savings account and a vacation savings account I also work to provide the necessities of life such as a flat screen TV my charitable giving could be described as minimal at best like many good worldly men devoted to getting ahead in this world I would find moments of Joy when my for quarterly 401K statement showed a profit but then I would experience pronounced periods of stress disappointment and anger when the 401K dropped or when we
had to take money out of savings to pay the bills however I accepted these ups and downs as the realities of life and overall we were doing okay until one day my wife who I thought loved me told me that she would like to raise our daughters in a church and requested that we started visiting Lo local churches up to this point in my life I had done a good job of avoiding churches and hypocritical Christians who attended them I'd always felt uncomfortable around Christians and now in order to make my wife happy I was
going to have to attend a church and interact with them on their Turf I reluctantly agreed and added Church to my list of dreaded weekend chores initially our trial run at visiting churches proved relatively painless the people were nice but the water down version of the word which they were serving had little impact and left me with no desire for more my wife who was also unimpressed by these experience es suggested we try brills because she had heard good things about this church she convinced me and we attended your church for the first time last
fall that day was the start of a process in which you and your faith family have been progressively destroying my life in this world the word you served up that day was strong and pure not like the water down versions I had received in the past it had an immediate impact on me and like the most addictive drugs left me wanting more we started to attend fairly regularly on Sundays but soon that was not enough to satisfy my growing need for more of this word I started buying CDs of previous sermons so that I could
get my fix on the way to and from work each day I started to interact more with members of this Faith Family who were not only consuming the word but also appeared to be living it as well this only fueled my desire for more and you and this Faith Family seemed all too happy to encourage and support my habit as I got deeper and deeper into this addiction a side effect known as Faith began to grow inside of me as my faith grew I felt a greater need for fellowship with others suffering with the same
Faith all along I was gradually losing my grip on the realities of this world which had been my foundation and I came to Christ I cannot believe what Christ and his word have done to my life over the past year I used to avoid Church all together now we attend the worship services on Sundays and have joined a small group that meets for three to five hours every week at a neighbor's house I used to avoid Christians to profess their faith and now I have become one I stopped saving for the flat screen TV which
is just as well since I don't have much time for TV anymore I've reduced my 401k contributions and stopped looking at the quarterly statements I've gone from trying to save as much money as I can to trying to find ways to give it away for the glory of God what is wrong with me it's lunacy what have you done to me the worldly man I was a year ago would not recognize the man I am becoming I was a man believing in the realities of this world living the American dream saving up riches for a
comfortable future and looking for security in a strong bottom line now I believe in pray to and seek after a relationship with a God I cannot see I found salvation in Christ whom I cannot see I long for eternity and an unseen future creation I now looks for security in him all of this would have sounded like foolishness to the man I was a year ago however the man I was a year ago in the worldly life I knew are being destroyed and I wanted you in the faith family at Brook Hills to be aware
of the role you have played in destroying my worldly life I also feel the need to warn you that if you persist in teaching and living out the word as you are doing currently then you will likely have a similar impact on the worldly lives of others like me I hope you realize that you may have to live with the knowledge of your actions and their effects on the lives of others for all of eternity I will be there to remind you of what you have done [Applause] the gospel creates that only the gospel so
may may God use the gospel in our lives and the lives of Those whom we lead to compel a radical concern for the needs of the world around us and to create in us a radical confidence in the name of the one who saved us would you stand please for a closing word of prayer uh faculty and students we're going to start our next classes at quarter till rather than uh 12:30 so 12:45 we take an extra 15 minutes so we'll have lunch and opportunity to visit with Dr plat join me for a word of
prayer and let's also remember tonight we have our sanctity of Life concert here in the chapel you can come from the Crawfish Boil just wash your hands hands as we celebrate the life God has given dear gracious Heavenly Father the gospel is such a comfort it binds up our wounds it ministers to our depression and our discouragement it brings us hope in the midst of Despair it is such a comfort but father for those who have been comforted it is such a disturber we pray that the day will never come when we cease listening to
your word and we pray that you will teach us father there is always a place to go with you that we have not yet been and that you would give us who have experienced so much of the comfort so much of the soulless so much of the help and strength that we would have confidence from that Comfort to walk the roads that are more difficult and to go to places that are more unknown may we ever live For Your Glory for the good of your people and for the Lost of this world in the precious
Mighty and strong name of Jesus we pray amen and amen porch outside Dr Platt will be outside on the porch e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e for
