Christ Community Church of Pembroke Pines

Church Life

                     “Proclaiming 4 Roads to God”

                Acts 17:22-34

1. Creation (vv. 22-26)

2. Conscience (vv. 27-29)

Ro. 1:19: "that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them."

Psa. 14:1b-3  … The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. 

3. Communication (v. 30)

4. Christ (vv.31-34) 

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The Gospel in a Culture of IdolsText: Acts 17:16–22 (ESV)

Church Life, “Are You a Good Berean?” 

                                    (Acts 17:10-15) 

The Right Mind (vv. 10-11)

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom. - Charles Spurgeon -  

Heb. 5:12-14 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.  

Ro. 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 

The Right Heart (v. 12) 

The Right Mission (vv. 13-15)

How to Develop Wisdom and Discernment (through God’s means of grace):

1.     Seek God in the word (be a good Berean)

2.     Seek God in prayer (Ja. 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.)

3.     Seek God in the fellowship of the local church (‘iron sharpens iron’)

The Call of God pt 4- The Gospel Courage " Acts 16:25-40

      Church Life 

“The Calling of God, Pt.3- To Suffer” (Acts 16:16-24) 

The Conflict in Suffering (vv. 16-21)

Deut. 18:10-12a 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,[a] anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.... 

The Consequence of Suffering (vv. 22-24)

Phil 1:12-14 12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Mt. 5:10-12  10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1 Pet. 4:14-16  14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory[a] and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Ja. 1:2-4 2 Count it all joy, my brothers,[a] when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Ro. 5:3-4 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, .. 1 attachment

Church Life 

“The Calling of God, Pt. 2- To New Life” 

                   (Acts 16:11-15) 

Produces a New Root (vv. 11-14) 

    - The Need: Mt. 7:17-20. 

    - The How: 

Ja. 1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. The word- the gospel, the truth about Jesus saves 

1 Pet. 1:23 you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. (Eph. 2:1-5).

     - The Why: 

Eph. 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

1 Cor. 1:28-29,31 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being[d] might boast in the presence of God. ...31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Cor. 3:6-7 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

2 Reasons Why This Doctrine of the New-Birth Matters: worship and confidence.  

Ro. 10:14-15a 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?[c] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? 

Produces New Fruit (v. 15)

Church Life 

               “The Calling of God, Pt. 1- To Ministry” 

                                      Acts 16:1-10  

Sacrifice (vv. 1-5)

Obedience (vv. 6-10) 

Jo. 14:25-26 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.  16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Psa. 37:3-5 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

Calling of your spiritual gifts:  

-        Calling (what is my passion for ministry?)

-   Gifting (what am I good at?) 

-   Need (where is God working and what does the church and kingdom need?) 

Church Life “Trial Separation” (Acts 15:36-41)

Next Journey (v.36)

Next Conflict (vv. 37-41)

1 Cor. 7:5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1 Cor. 13:4-7 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

2 Tim. 4:10-11 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia,[a] Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.  

Three Warning Signs - that you’re not loving and not interested in peacemaking:

Number one: When the issue becomes a controlling passion of your life. 

Number two: When you start thinking about revenge against those who have hurt you. 

Number three: When you begin to attack the person and not the problem.

2 Tim. 2:23-26a 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant[e] must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil

Church Life

        “Law and Gospel, Pt. 3 - Grace” (Acts 15:22-35)

The Summary and Mission of Grace (vv.22-29)

Ro.8:9  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. He adds in

1 Cor. 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,  

Eph. 5:15-21; Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Almost word for word. 

Jo.15:4, 15:7 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.... 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

The Soul Care of Grace (vv. 30-35)

Heb. 3:12-13 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Church Life

               “Law and Gospel, Pt. 2 - Grace” (Acts 15:6-21)

1. The Case for Faith (vv. 6-11)

Gal. 3:5-6 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Sola fide.

Rev. 7:9-10 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Eph. 2:4-5, 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Eph. 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

2. The Case for Scripture (vv. 12-18)

3. The Case for Conscience (vv. 19-21)

Ro. 14:1-4b, Ro. 14:5-6, Ro. 14:13-15b, Ro. 14:20-21,23 

1 Cor. 10:25, 27-29a  25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience... 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. 

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