The Selection
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
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Brainstorm:
- Peter is changed from the denier to the proclaimer by the power and prayer of Jesus
Why did they have to replace Judas?
To fulfill prophecy
12 tribes of israel, twelve stars of the church in rev. 12:1, 12 thrones from matthew 19:28
Common theme: Prayer
All God’s people were praying. Not just the apostles, not just certain people, ALL
Prayers of
Joy
Endurance for the task at hand
Anticipation
They remembered in where the spirit descended on Jesus while he was praying
Glorifying God
Committed to prayer and constant prayer
Initial position of prayer
shows humility and dependence
The continuation of prayer
shows belief that God hears
The praying together
Brings believers together in one mind
Removes ourselves from the picture —> oneness
After ascension, they were filled with great joy.
possibility of it being the same upper room
Judas was numbered among them, but was obviously not one of them
How many of us can this be said of?
Outline:
The Promise had been made
Recap
They head back to Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives
- with great joy
Pray
Notice what they do, they pray
Individually
Verse 14 - devoted themselves to prayer
Collectively
Verse 14 - devoted themselves to prayer together
Purposefully
Stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise
Jesus himself was in prayer when the spirit descended on Him -
They were overcome with joy
Expressed that joy through prayer
We can learn something here
Prayer gives way to understanding
Peter prayed and understood what they needed to do
In the Scriptures while praying
Saw the need to appoint a 12th apostle
Why?
The requirements of an apostle
The Selection of the 12th
Cast lots
Leaving to chance?
Message
Recap The Promise
Power, Position, & Purpose
Intro:
Have you ever done something without thinking before?
Government job
Like it was just an automatic impulsive response?
Pastor job
Maybe some of us this happens when we go shopping......right Savannah?
Or maybe it’s when there is food in front of us, and we’re not even hungry, we just go for it!
Maybe it’s when we just fire something out of our mouths and as we’re saying it our brain finally catches up and says, “No.....wait.............”
What about you? What are some things you just do without thinking?
For me it often involves a ball on the ground, in the house out of the house, it doesn’t matter, I’m going to kick it.
Government job
If you’ve ever wondered how not to make life decisions, come ask me
It’s ironic that I’m responsible along with your parents to get you ready for the real world isn’t it?
That’s because I’ve figured it out. Listen to this, model your life after this, and you’ll be good, trust me....I’ve learned that the hard way
Recap The Promise
Power, Position, & Purpose
Tonight, we will be looking at “The Selection”
We’re going to see why it was important, and we’re going to see what accompanied this decision....and what should accompany decisions we make in our lives
If you know your NT at all, you’ll know that there were 12 apostles who were doing the work of the ministry.
We see the twelve mentioned in , in , and in Revelation
But let me ask you this, who were the twelve?
How many can you name?
Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alpheaus, Simon the Zealot, Judas the son of James (Thaddeus), and Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot
Tonight, we’re going to see what the apostles did when their number dropped from 12 to 11, and the the importance of how they made their decision and why
Turn with me to
Read verses 12-14
What we see happening here is Jesus is gone, he’s ascended, and so the disciples and those with them head back to Jerusalem, as they were commanded to do.
We talked last week about how we would feel seeing Jesus go, hearing His command, didn’t we?
Well, if you turn to , we read that they returned with great joy, and were continually blessing God.
Their joy was rooted in a complete and true understanding of who Jesus is, and what His plan is.
Is yours?
Read verses 15-20
In those days Peter stood up......
Let’s STOP right here. Hold up a second. What do you mean Peter stood up? What gives Peter a right to talk?
I mean, we all remember who Peter was don’t we? This is the dude who denied Christ three times in the space of a few minutes. This is the guy who was more worried about himself than Christ suffering. What gives him the right?!?!?!
Have you ever thought this about someone, or have you ever thought this about yourself?
I’ve done too much wrong to be used by Christ.....well looky here
Keep your finger in Acts, but turn to
Have you ever noticed what Jesus said to Peter BEFORE he denied Him?
Read 31-32
Jesus prayed for Him
And prophesied that he would turn, and when he did....to strengthen his brothers.
And that’s what we see Peter doing here in Acts
Peter didn’t live in shame, he wasn’t hung up on his guilt.
He truly understood that Jesus’ blood covered His sins, and past regrets and mistakes weren’t going to hold him back
Be encouraged guys, you can’t out sin the grace of Jesus, you can be used by Him.
Peter denied Jesus, Thomas doubted Jesus, Paul persecuted Jesus
But in those days Peter stood up and encouraged the believers, reminding them what the Scriptures had prophesied concerning Judas Iscariot
Explain verses 16-20
- most Jews knew this Psalm, it was a major part of OT material
, “ 3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
Judas hung himself, that’s what I think happened. I personally believe that what Luke means is after hanging there for a while, he began to swell.
Like a dead deer
Stephen story
But Judas, understanding the magnitude of what he had done, can’t stand to live.
The importance of having 12
Jesus called 12 and spoke of 12
, “…he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve”
, “......in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne you....will also sit on twelve thrones”
, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
- most Jews knew this Psalm, it was a major part of OT material
- Peter, understood what this Psalm was saying, that they needed to fill Judas’ vacant spot
The twelve had unique and special authority as witnesses of his life from John the Baptist baptizing Him through to His ascension, particularly speaking of His resurrection
With no NT yet, they had the truth, they saw the truth, and they had the special role of spearheading the church due to that.
The choosing of Matthias
Requirements:
Been present in Jesus’ ministry from baptism to ascension
Witnessed the resurrection
Cast Lots
, “ 33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
33 The lot is cast into the lap,
Prayer
Now, something was woven through this entire passage that we haven’t talked about yet, something that was essential to the apostle’s life, something that was essential to the believer’s life, and something that was essential to the important decision they made in choosing Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot.
but its every decision is from the Lord.
Does anyone know what it is? Did anyone see it in the passage?
Prayer
Look at verse 14 with me, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”
And how about verse 24 before making this big decision....”And they prayed”
Let’s hang here a minute and recap
Disciples saw Jesus leave, disciples were filled with joy, disciples were waiting as they were told to do
And notice the first thing we see them doing, we see them praying.
Let’s look at 3 examples we can take from this.....
Praying Individually
Praying Collectively
Praying Purposefully
Praying Individually
All the believers were praying. They weren’t sitting in the upper room just listening to the apostles praying. That wasn’t the model
They weren’t just twiddling their thumbs, eating, playing games waiting on the Holy Spirit
All of them were praying
Why do you think so?
They believed in the power of prayer
Source of Joy
Source of Hope
Source
They followed the example of Jesus
Jesus prayed often
Prayed for Peter which we looked at
Prayed in the garden of Gethsemane
All throughout the Gospels we see an active prayer life being modeled for us by God himself!
How’s your prayer life?
If we’re studying through Acts to see the early church and how it functioned, and to see the believers take hold of the Gospel, then we can’t just sit here and be like, “okay, cool....they prayed” and go back to our lives
How are you doing? Is your joy found in Christ and in communication with God?
Do you make time for individual prayer?
Until we do this, until this becomes a discipline in our lives, something we are known for and something we make time for, then we will dampen the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Praying Collectively, They prayed together
They were all together in this upper room, praying individually, and praying together. Praying for each other.
“All were in one accord”, all were together in this
Praying together is an essential function of the church, and one that we are terrible at
Let me ask you this, when someone is praying, whether it is me, or Pastor Dave in church, what are you doing?
I remember being in elementary school and this being explained to me and it blew my mind.
What do you mean I should be praying with you as you pray?
Are you thinking about lunch? Thinking about your friends, what you have coming up, etc
Or are you in one mind, in togetherness, praying with that person praying?
Prayer gatherings are powerful
We’ll see this in , where the house is actually shaken, but corporate prayer, where we are all praying for God’s will, for His direction…it’s what we are called to do.
This is something we as a youth group need to get better at, praying together and with and for each other.
Praying Purposefully
We saw that the believers prayed to God about this decision they had to make, praying together over who the 12th apostle should be
We as a church have even recently had a day of prayer over the direction of the church, whether we should build or not.
See, a faithful believer understands we aren’t our own, and we should want what He wants. Do what He wants us to do.
So, here’s another look at your life....when’s the last time you prayed about a decision you had to make, no matter how small it was?
Now, I’m not saying we pray over whether or not we should have peanut butter and grape jelly or peanut butter and strawberry jelly.
But when it comes to:
Where should I go to college
Should I play this sport in high school
Should I be friends with this person
Should I date this person
What job should I get
And we pray over things like this asking God, how will this glorify you? How will my decision here impact the furthering of your kingdom?
When it comes to these types of decisions, have you, or would you pray over it?
If you’re anything like me, the answer would be most likely no. We don’t think this way anymore.
We don’t spend time in prayer.
But look at the apostles, they haven’t even started yet, and they’re already praying.
They weren’t waiting for trouble to come to pray to God, as we often do.
Being full of joy they spent time in prayer.
Prayer was essential to them as believers and them as an early church.
Is prayer essential to you? If not, it will be very hard to make it essential. Just being honest with you there.
It takes humility
It takes endurance
It takes denial
But if we are followers of Jesus Christ, if we long to be used by Him, prayer is essential. Will you make it part of your life
Instagram & Snapchat challenge
I don’t know how to pray, well let me help you out!