At the Gate: In or Out?

At the Gate: In or Out?


Acts 3:1-6

I. Introduction
-What do you expect here?
-What are you looking for here?
-Maybe what you seek, is all you will find?
1. How far you're willing to go is all the farthest you'll ever get!
2. You are the church!
-Different Question: What do you want to be spiritually?
1. What do you want God to make you?
2. Are you content where you are at?
3. What would you be willing to do to grow in the Lord? (Give up sin.)
-Ill. Song: "Somewhere between Jesus & John Wayne."
1. I hate that song (on Christian radio).
2. Is that all you have?
3. Is that all you ever will be?
4. If so, I'd say you were a spiritual lame beggar.

II. Scripture

III. Peter & John Together
-Unity
-The greatest battle of the church today is for unity.
1. I'm not talking about disagreement &/or difference of opinion.
2. I'm addressing unity.
-At the hour of prayer... there must be unity.
-The greatest battle of the church today is a unity of spirit.

IV. Background
-They took him to the gate to beg for alms.
-Never expected to go into the sanctuary.
1. I'd say he knew what went on in the sanctuary, but never really participated.
2. But he did beg for change from those coming & going.
-He hoped for a little ‘over flow' blessing.
1. Some left-overs.
2. Some scraps.
-Query: I wonder why we settle for left-overs?

V. New to Church
-Sinners/ Lost/ New to church kind of enjoy the gate.
-Sinners at the gate experience the leftovers/ crumbs and think it is wonderful.
-Compared to the world, the gate is a great place!
-Problem: But for many, years from now, if they settle for the gate, they'll be in the same place... a lame beggar living off crumbs.
1. And they'll still think its great.
2. And they'll think they great with God.
-Just b/c you get blessed at church doesn't make you a Christian.
1. That just means you have a soul!
2. That just means you still have a spirit w/in your body!
-You're living off the blessings of others.
1. You're living off the spirituality of the preacher.
2. You're living off the walk of your parents.
-Ill. Wedding clean up.
1. Rice, napkins, cake, confetti
2. You can tell what happened in the place, but that's much different than being in the wedding!
-Don't settle for crumbs at the gate, when our Savior has prepared a banquet table/ a feast!
-Ill. Prodigal Son
1. He was eating pig slop.
2. He was happy to come back and be a servant in his Father's house [at the gate].
3. But his Father was ready to make him a son again!
-Don't you dare...
1. ...stop at the gate!
2. ...settle for spare change!
3. ...be content with a good service!
4. ...adjust to spiritual begging
5. ...get use to God working around you!
-Not when God wants to work in you!

VI. "Regular Attenders"
-People in the church, but not "in the sanctuary."
-Some here this morning are just barely surviving spiritually.
-It's hard to describe where you're at spiritually.
-When ppl talk about where you are at, what might they say?
-Might they say...
1. Out and out sinner.
2. Godly saint.
3. ...or maybe: I don't know.
-"Some are too saved to be lost, but too lost to be saved."
1. Who knows?... only God?
2. They've got it! They've not.
3. Maybe! Maybe not!
4. And if you're there, you're trying to figure out where you're at too!
-You don't have to set an alarm on Sunday morning, you just wake up, but your ears have dulled to the voice of the Spirit.
1. If God sat right next to you and screamed in your ear you wouldn't hear it.
2. You know when to sit, when to stand, & when to sing.
3. But you don't know how to get to the banquet table.
-You're barely surviving spiritually & you're content with that.
1. You've done just enough to feel like you'll make it.
2. Just enough to seem deep.
3. Just enough to appease the preacher.
-You're at the gate.
-You're keeping God at arm's length.
1. That tension is not normal, it's you fighting God trying to move you past the gate!
2. God never intended to be kept at arms length.
-The Bible only once tells you to go to church; but over & over again it commands us to be the church.
1. What if you stopped coming here and started belonging here; had a calling here?
2. The more spectators we have (ppl at the gate) the weaker we are as a church!
-Where are you at spiritually?
-You'll never know what you're missing if you never make it past the gate!
-When the lame man finally got into the sanctuary (praising God), the crowd saw him...
1. v. 10b "...And they were filled w/ wonder & amazement at what had happened to Him."
2. You "get in" and ppl will be amazed.

VII. Continued...
-"At the gate" ppl are the least ministered to.
1. You might come to church often, and b/c you do you fade into the background.
2. Regular attendance does not = heaven.
-You might be "regular" but you need to move beyond the gate.
1. Don't sit there Sunday after Sunday unresponsive.
2. Say "Yes, Lord" more than just when we sing.
-Ill. We talk a lot about "being fed" in a church.
1. What we don't talk about is helping prepare the food.
2. We treat this place like a restaurant... we want to be served.
-Ill. Evangelist & a "gate man"
1. "I didn't get anything out of your preaching."
2. "That's b/c you didn't put anything into my preaching."
-But that attitude will leave you begging at the gate.
1. It won't take you into the holy place!
2. It will leave you a spiritually lame beggar!
-But oh if you would move past the gate... into the presence of God!

VIII. Past the Gate
-Examples of people going past the gate.
-Ill. Geneva Penick, Larry P's mother.
1. Mother of 4 boys & 2 girls.
2. Gathered them every night around her feet and read from the Word.
3. Getting past the gate.
-Peter in the boat.
1. "Lord if it's you ask me to come to you on the water."
2. He stepped out of the boat and walked to Jesus. (He did risk a lot!)
-Ill. Edi Burton
1. Naomi Nazarene
2. Breast cancer, lived 4 weeks after moving there.
3. "Come morning we'll meet by the river."
4. They carried her into the sanctuary that morning, but only physically.
-Ill. Willard W. Metz
1. Kneeling around the couch.
2. I can still remember the smell.
3. They passed the gate every day, but never paused to beg for crumbs.
-You'll never know all God wants to do if you stand at the gate and look in.
-You'll never be in the middle of what God is doing... only catching the run-off.
1. You'll never be a 1st hand witness to the work of the Spirit... only through hear-say will you be privy to the work of the Lord.
2. You'll never experience Christian fullness... only scraps from off the floor.

VII. Conclusion
-I was asked one time if I went to a full Gospel church.
1. "No a half Gospel church."
2. "No a 2% Gospel church."
3. YES!?
-We teach the whole message of God's Word.
1. You've got to do more than like Jesus.
2. You've got to do more than love Jesus.
3. He must be everything to you.
4. He must be your Lord & Savior.
5. All your life must glorify Him!
-Ill. Eating at parishner's homes growing up.
1. For dessert... cherry pie!
2. Every time!
3. Meals included onions, peppers, etc.
4. #1 Rule: You have to try it.
5. "If you don't try it you'll never know if you like it."
-Problem: The Devil will make you believe that you're okay at the gate.
1. Are you okay with someone else's leftovers?
2. Are you content with spare change?
-Or are you looking for a healing?
-If you came seeking alms this morning, I hope you're disappointed.
-If you've grown comfortable at the gate; I hope you're uncomfortable this morning.
-I don't want you to stay at the gate.
-May I say to you like Peter said to this lame beggar: "Rise up, and walk [on into His presence]." -Come for a healing today, get past the gate.

Response: "Rise & Be Healed"

What More Do I Lack?

Matthew 19:16-22

What More Do I Lack?: What More Christians Need

I. Introduction
-Ill. Put together a puzzle.
1. Only one piece missing.
2. How annoying!
-I may describe you this morning.
-The yearning in your heart.
1. ...for something more.
2. ...for completion.
-I wish to speak to Christians who are discontent.
1. Those who do not wish to play at religion.
2. Those who are tired of doing all the right things, but not making progress.
-Maybe you will identify with the young man in our Scripture this morning.

II. Scripture

III. Plague of Christianity
-There is among Christians today a discontentment.
-This discontent is not only with the way our world is going and is operating, but also w/ Christianity itself.
-Talk to people from different churches.
1. They are unsatisfied with life in general, they are distracted, restless, inconsistent, bored, shallow, naive about spiritual things.
2. And all this wells up deep w/in their soul.
-Sinners come into churches looking for something to fill the void of their life and we tell them about forgiveness (not adoption or regeneration) just about forgiveness.
1. So sinners "get that" and walk away w/out the void in their life filled.
2. Yet in all of our "religiousness" we cannot escape the nagging spiritual instinct that there is something more!
-"More than forgiveness?"
1. "Isn’t that all we have to have?"
2. Yes, but it is not all we should have.
-Point: But at the same time that we desire something more than what we have, we also bring with that a pessimism.
1. There is a cynicism that we cannot ever have what our souls ache for inside.
2. So we come to church hoping the preacher will give some key to a deeper spirituality.
3. Some key to the pressing & urgent need of our souls.

IV. Some Kind of Desire
-Our initial experience has worn off. Some of us are years & years removed from being born-again.
1. The fire that burned in our hearts has all but turned to heaps of ashes.
2. The passion (not emotional excitement) has dwindled to church attendance and spiritual chores.
-Can I stir the ashes looking for an ember of that is still glowing hot, holding on.
-I’m not talking about a rousing sermon to flare your emotions (that may occur).
1. I’m not talking about a pep talk before the big game.
2. I’m talking about that thing in your life, that you know, as a Christian you are missing, but you cannot quite put your finger on.

V. People Are Seeking More
-All of Christianity is seeking what you are seeking.
-If you are seeking, it is to you that I am speaking this AM.
-Go to a Christian book store and look at the best selling shelf.
1. Publishers sell only what will make money.
2. Ppl are seeking.
-Here are some of the titles and quotes from the jackets & backs of the books.
1. Mike Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality: "This book has been written for the silent majority of us who have been convinced that we just can’t do Christianity right."
2. Rick Warren, Purpose-Driven Life: "Make sure you’re not missing the point of your life. Read this book. The purpose-driven life will guide you to greatness."
3. Bruce Wilkerson, The Dream Giver: "Let Bruce Wilkerson show you how to rise above the ordinary, conquer your fears, overcome your obstacles that keep you from living your big dream."
4. Beth Moore, Believing Jesus: "Come, experience a fresh explosion of faith. God meant for His children to succeed. Are our Christian lives successful? Are they achieving and experiencing what Scripture said they would?"
5. John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted "What does true spirituality really look like? What keeps you from such a life? What can you do to pursue it? If you’re tired of the status quo – if you suspect that there’s more to Christianity than what you’ve experienced – John Ortberg points you to a road of transformation and spiritual vigor that anyone can take."
6. John Eldredge, Waking the Dead: "Here are four streams through which we can discover the abundant life" (John Eldredge Waking the Dead)
-The irony is, that while these authors all promise something more, they fail to deliver.
-Most, although a good read, are enmeshed in "good advice" rather than fulfilling your spiritual yearning.
-They do not believe that this side of heaven you can be restored into the divine image of God.
1. Colossians 3:10 "and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."
2. Instead they do reconstructive surgery.
-They speak of trying to imitate Jesus; but do we believe that Jesus the Christ can be fully formed in you?
1. Galatians 4:19 "my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!"
2. Christians/Preachers today say the most you can hope for is being a "God-chaser," but do we believe that you can actually partake in the divine nature of God and escape the corruption that is in the world?
3. 2 Peter 1:4 "y which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."
4. They say you can only try to be holy, but can we actually share in God’s holiness?
5. Hebrews 12:10 "For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness."

VI. Holiness & Skepticism
-Allow me to put words to your desire this morning: holiness.
1. Yes, your cynicism just bubbled to the surface.
2. You would think in such a world as we live that the message of heart and life holiness would be popular!
3. But alas even the church has abandoned it today!
-Not only do we not believe in God’s ability to cleanse our hearts of sinfulness, but we also don’t believe in miracles, healings, prophetic words (preaching), or anything that demands more than the normal.
-The church has trouble believing in the miraculous work of God.
1. Transformational work of God.
2. Reformational work defined by the world.
-Point: We have adopted the world’s philosophy of therapy.
-Everybody just needs a little "Jesus" therapy.
1. We don’t believe that anybody ever gets over anything today!
2. Not sin, not addictive behaviors, not their hurtful past, not their homosexual tendency... nothing!
3. Nobody is cured.
-Some people go to their "counselors" for years never realizing any measurable or real healing or wholeness.
1. I’m not against seeing a counselor.
2. I’m against not seeing The Counselor!

VII. Christianity Begins with...
-Let’s not be too skeptical since the skeptics seem to be right.
-Christianity has become more of a title than a way of life.
1. I think every politician running for anything was a Christian!?
-So when this young man asks Jesus how to obtain eternal life (more than Heaven), Jesus says: you know the law... keep it.
-Christianity begins with obedience to Christ.
-And while that is where it begins, it certainly does not end there.
-Some of you here this morning have got that part of it down, but you , like the young man still have a hole in the middle of your faith.
1. It’s not that you don’t love Jesus, or don’t want to live for Him, or want to be a sinner.
2. It’s that there is something that is incomplete.
3. It’s why so many ppl sit through church and "feel" like there is something more.
-And it is terrifying for a preacher to preach holiness, b/c it seems so unlikely that you could be holy.
-So many Christians who are struggling & fighting for something they do not feel they can obtain.
VIII. Are You Lacking?
-Is it God’s design for you to be lacking in your spiritual life?
-Does "making it to Heaven" suddenly make you spiritually pure and mature?
-Maybe God has the proverbial carrot on the stick in front of us.
-"You can try, but you will never succeed."
-Ill. If I asked you to raise your hand this morning if you are right where you need to be, could you raise it?
1. Maybe some infected w/ spiritual pride.
2. Maybe some w/ spiritual ignorance.
3. Maybe some could say yes.
-But do you know what we will do?
1. We will walk right out of here sad.
2. Just like this young man.
3. We never confront the problem.

IX. Do you Want to be Perfect?
-The young man says I have kept all the law from my youth.
1. "What more do I lack?"
2. There it is, the discontent.
-v. 21 "Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.""
1. Perfect?
2. No way.
-I’m not here to define biblical perfection this morning, but maybe it’s a perfect love of God.
-Jesus "demands" of the young man are not a prescription for us but a principle for us.
-Point: Jesus will ask for the most valuable thing in your life.
-If you deny Him, you will go away sad.
1. You will carry your discontent into eternity.
2. The nagging instinct that something is missing may be able to be dismissed, but you will never escape it.

X. Conclusion
-I wonder if you would go away sorrowful today?
-I wonder if you would accept the words of Jesus.
-I wonder if you are sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit this morning & see what you may lack.
-Like the young man, ask "what more do I lack?"
-But unlike the young man, do not go away sad.

Response