Rev. David Holwick L The Church You've Longed For, #7
First Baptist Church Palm Sunday
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 1, 2007
Acts 4:23-31
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I. Super-duper theophanies.
A. Theophany - a fancy word for meeting God, face to face.
1) For thousands of years, humans have longed for this.
2) The founders of most of the great religions have claimed
it happened to them.
3) Has it ever happened to you?
B. How people experience God.
1) Why I don't dust.
In September 1993, a Brownsville, Texas, man looked out the
window of his house and saw a crowd of people.
All of them were pointing at the dusty hood of his 1981 Camaro.
The man went outside and asked what they were doing.
He was told jubilantly that the Blessed Virgin Mary had
appeared in a dirt stain on the hood.
To get rid of the mob of people, the man washed his car.
But the image reappeared ... and so did the crowds.
A Brownsville police dispatcher told reporters, "They won't
let the owner move his car."
#11796
2) A more typical experience.
National Public Radio has been collecting personal spiritual
experiences at a website called "thisibelieve.org".
One of them was contributed by a young man named Robin
from Fort Worth, Texas.
Robin wrote:
I was a good little Baptist boy until leaving home for
college.
[There I threw] away religion because it seemed so trite.
I became an agnostic, which is really the only honest
position unless something else happens, which I'll
describe.
You cannot prove or disprove God's existence.
You can choose not to believe, but that in itself is belief
in a negative.
Therefore you wouldn't be an agnostic, who by definition
says we cannot know if there is a God or not.
A couple of years into college, I was at home for the
summer.
One night I happened upon a note my sister had written
about some difficulties she was having.
The note simply screamed to the heavens,
"God, where are you?"
All of a sudden, all the things I had heard as a boy, but
that had been so dead to me (aren't most religious
things?) came to life.
The Lord Jesus was there in my room not letting me walk
away into apostasy.
No, I did not see Him.... no visions, no bells and whistles,
no tortilla chips [with the Virgin Mary on them].
I just knew.
#33607
C. Theophanies are not common.
1) Researcher George Barna has surveyed thousands of people
on religious issues.
He found that 65-70% of people who say they go to church
regularly had not experienced an encounter with God in
the last year.
2) Yet the Bible insists God can be known, and experienced.
a) How can it happen to us?
b) How can it happen here?
II. God can be experienced in church.
A. God should be the main business of our church.
1) But is He?
a) In all honesty, he is sometimes left out of the picture.
b) We get comfortable in our friendships and rituals
and forget why we are here in the first place.
c) Spiritual writer A.W. Tozer once said, "When we draw
back the curtain to the Holy of Holies, we no longer
expect to really encounter the living God."
#3173
2) Unspiritual churches are soon dead churches.
a) People will seek God somewhere.
1> Conversions to Islam, New Age, cults, etc.
b) Genuine spirituality requires some effort on our part.
B. The early church knew God was real.
1) Deliverance from dire situations. (Peter freed)
2) Tremendous miracles. (Healings)
3) Ground-shaking prayers. Acts 4:31
a) It was a matter of: if God isn't real, we're dead.
b) In everyday experiences they knew he was real.
III. Where we can experience God in our church.
A. Praising God in Worship.
1) Music.
a) "Worship Wars".
1> Any style of music can bring glory to God.
2> But be wary of an "entertainment" mentality.
b) Focus on the message, and the mood, of the music.
2) Prayers.
a) They should be heartfelt and not "canned."
b) This is why Baptist preachers don't write out their
prayers.
c) Everyone should be able to prayer, just as we do each
communion Sunday.
3) Personal sharing.
a) Congregational participation was a mark of the early
church's worship. 1 Cor 14
b) Testimonies and interaction are important.
B. Encountering God in his Word.
1) Gain a deeper understanding of God through the Bible.
a) God's character.
b) God's dealings with people.
2) The Bible is God's communication to mankind. #25069
a) It is God's revelation, not just a book about him.
b) Paul says, "faith comes from hearing the message, and
the message is heard through the word of Christ."
Romans 10:17
3) It should motivate us to repent, and love God.
C. Submitting to God at the invitation.
1) The importance of altar calls.
2) Meditation before communion.
3) Worship is not complete until we respond to God's call to us.
IV. God can be experienced in your personal life.
A. Church cannot deliver God on a plate.
1) Much depends on what you bring to church.
2) Is your heart open?
3) Do you have a desire to learn, to be used?
B. Personal study of the Bible and Christian literature.
1) Don't expect to get all your knowledge from church alone.
a) An hour a week is nothing but spoon-feeding.
2) Frequent criticism: Christians don't think enough.
We accept canned answers to deep problems.
This week Dorothy LaBounty of St. Louis wrote a letter
to the editor of Newsweek magazine.
It was in response to an article that said Americans
were ignorant of the Bible and it should be taught
in schools.
Dorothy wrote:
If Americans are ignorant of the facts behind religion,
a goodly share of the blame belongs to mainstream
churches and their ministers.
Despite the fact that Americans are attaining higher
levels of education, churches remain places to believe,
not places to think.
Ministers rarely challenge congregants to ask questions,
do research, think deeply or explore others faiths
with anything like an open mind.
Rigorous thought is suspect....
In my experience, ministers just wants congregations to
believe, obey and donate -- generously.
#34361
C. Spiritual reflection.
1) Meditation and prayer.
2) Tragedies and crisis.
3) Blessings and significant moments in life.
D. Practice the Presence.
The famous author G.K. Chesterton was a devout believer.
One day he was standing on a London street corner when
a newspaper reporter approached him.
The reporter said, "Sir, I understand that you recently
became a Christian. May I ask you one question?"
"Certainly," replied Chesterton.
"If the risen Christ suddenly appeared at this very moment
and stood behind you, what would you do?"
Chesterton looked the reporter squarely in the eye and
said, "He is."
#25089
V. Have you experienced God?
A. God is in the revealing business.
Remember Robin, the Texas college student who found his
sister's note and revived his faith?
He came to this conclusion about God:
When you think about it, how could we find God when He would
have to be far above His creation in majesty and power?
He has to reveal Himself by giving us faith for us to know and
believe.
It is a certainty that changes your life.
How could we begin to know an eternal, invisible, infinite,
holy God?
All the arguments [from philosophers] did nothing to
convince me.
It was only when God chose to reveal Himself that I knew...
knew Jesus was the only way God could reveal Himself to us
finite people.
The Son of God became one of us and bridged the gap between
God and humankind.
#33607
B. God can be known.
1) As Robin says, God is beyond us.
a) We can never figure him out completely.
b) As Christians, there is always something new to learn.
2) But God is not completely separate from us.
a) Our God is a God who draws close.
b) He is revealing Himself. Are you willing to accept Him?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 3173 "Meeting God At The Communion Table," by Brent Curtis, Discipleship
Journal, #85, January/February 1995, p. 59.
#11796 "Miracle Dust," Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Calendar, for the date
March 30, 2002.
#25069 "Does God Speak Outside the Bible Today?" by Todd Brady, Baptist
Press, http://www.baptistpress.org, June 30, 2003.
#25089 "Face To Face," by Jill Carattini, A Slice of Infinity: Ravi Zacharias
International Ministries; http://www.gospelcom.net/slice,
July 10, 2003.
#33607 "Jesus Appeared To Him," by Robin [last name not given]; Fort Worth,
Texas, www.thisibelieve.org; National Public Radio, Morning Edition:
This I Believe.
#34361 "Why Are Christians So Dumb?" by Dorothy LaBounty, Newsweek magazine,
March 26, 2007, page 20.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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