Fbco Sunday Sermons

I will return to our study of the book of Acts in five weeks. It is unusual for me to do a special series on Sunday mornings, so let me share with you how this came about. Recently I heard a message by a pastor I often listen to. He stated that the leaders of his church have asked him periodically to share the unique purpose of their church with the people. I believe this is a healthy thing to do. We have chosen this time because people are returning from summer vacations and students are arriving in Auburn. We feel that to explain what is most important to us as a church will benefit our long-time members as well as those looking for a church. I believe God has a special purpose for every church. The body of Christ is bigger than one local congregation. According to I Corinthians 12, God has a unique calling for every part of His body. God’s purpose for us at FBC Opelika is not the same as the unique calling of good churches like Lakeview Baptist, Cornerstone Methodist, or Church of the Highlands. We are

Paul and Barnabas are on their first missionary journey. After beginning on the island of Cyprus, they sail to the coast of what is now Turkey and land at the port city of Perga, a hot, humid coastal town infested by mosquitoes and known in the Roman Empire as a hub of malaria. If you were in a part of the world rife with malaria, you needed to go higher in elevation, where it was cooler and there were fewer mosquitoes. Antioch of Pisidia was on a plateau above the coast at an elevation of 3,600 feet and the first city you came to in the Roman province of Galatia. Paul will travel to more cities in Galatia in Chapter 14. Shortly after this he will write the book of Galatians. In that book, Paul says something interesting about why he came there to preach: “As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you” (Gal. 3:13). Many scholars believe Paul contracted malaria in Perga and immediately made his way up the mountains to Antioch of Pisidia to recover. There is also a subt

Barnabas and Saul had been told by the Holy Spirit to go out as missionaries. But they were not told where to start. They went from Antioch, the third biggest city in the Roman Empire, to the nearest seaport city, Seleucia, to catch a boat. They chose as their first mission field the island of Cyprus. This choice made sense for many reasons. First, Barnabas, according to Acts 4:36, was from Cyprus. Barnabas’ presence enabled them to overcome one of the great challenges of being a missionary to a foreign land: its culture. Not only should you know its language; you must grasp its entire culture so you won’t accidentally offend the people to whom you’re ministering. Cyprus was a prosperous island for several reasons. Its copper mines supplied the Roman Empire. Its climate was almost perfect. The island was nicknamed Makaria, the Greek word translated “blessed” in the Beatitudes. We might call it “Happy Island” today. The soil was perfect for a variety of crops. We know it was a peaceful island as well becaus

In 1993 an article in Christianity Today told the story of a Christian missionary native to India named M.V. Varghanese. He often went to the Hindu holy city of Hardwar on the Ganges River to witness to the pilgrims who came there seeking forgiveness. Thirty minutes before he arrived, a young Indian woman named Alila had waded into the Ganges with her baby boy in her arms. When she was waist deep in the river, she stopped for a few minutes, crying and holding her baby tight. Then she threw her baby boy to a watery death. She went back to the shore, knelt down, and started sobbing and beating her breast in grief. Varghanese walked up to her, put his arm around her, and asked why she was crying. This was her answer: "The problems in my home are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the best I have, my first born son, to the goddess Ganges," He began to tell her of the love of Jesus and that through Him her sins could be forgiven. She looked at him, then said, “I have never heard of this bef

Herod was the ultimate politician. He grew up as a wealthy playboy in Rome. He could be as Roman as any Roman when he was around Romans. But when he became the “king” of Israel, he pretended to be the most pious Jew in the land. Just to win a few more points in the popularity polls, he put to death James, one of the “big three” original disciples. He then arrested Peter and would have put him to death, too, except that God sent an angel to rescue Peter. His callous disregard for life is seen in that he put to death the soldiers charged with guarding Peter, though they had no part in his escape and had done their duty to the letter. But you can’t fight against God and an angel. Now we find God sending another angel to do His bidding. This time Herod is “touched by an angel” and dies of a painful case of worms. This event is told in even more detail by the Jewish historian of that time, Josephus. Thanks to him, we know it occurred in AD 44. The day Herod made his public appearance he chose to wear a special g

We saw last week that Herod had already put to death one of the original 12 apostles. When that pleased the crowd, he decided to go for the biggest prize of all: Peter. The only problem was that he arrested him just before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a seven-day event that started with the Passover celebration. Of all the feasts, Passover Week was the one the Israelites cherished most. Everyone’s attention was to be focused on God, and a trial during this week would have been totally inappropriate. So, Peter would be placed in prison for seven nights before being taken out, tried, and killed. Herod did everything in his power to make sure Peter could not get away. He put four squads of four soldiers each in charge of him. They were each to take six-hour shifts, to guarantee they would not get tired and fall asleep on duty. Two of the four soldiers would literally be chained to Peter, one to his right wrist, the other to his left. Peter was held in a cell behind two locked doors, the other two soldiers in

Let me give you the historical setting of this story. Agrippa was the grandson of Herod the Great, who had ordered the death of the baby boys at the time of Jesus’ birth. One year before his own death, Herod the Great had Agrippa’s father, Aristobulus, put to death in a fit of paranoia. Agrippa’s father became the third son of Herod to die because Herod was afraid for his throne. (The Romans said it was safer to be Herod’s pig than his son.) Agrippa and his sister Herodius grew up in Rome. Herodius is the woman who married her uncle Phillip, then left him to marry her uncle Herod. John the Baptist was put to death for criticizing this palace soap opera. Agrippa spent his early years as a party boy in Rome, but he got in trouble for supposedly criticizing the Roman emperor, Tiberius, and was put in prison. His fortune changed when Caligula, one of his old party friends, became the next emperor. Caligula placed Agrippa in charge of two of Israel’s three provinces. He did so well governing these provinces that

In this chapter we are introduced to one of the most important cities in Christian history. Antioch will become home to one of the strongest Gentile churches and will be the base from which the first missionaries are sent out to the Roman world. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. Its main street was paved with marble and was four miles long. It was also considered the second most wicked city in the Empire, second only to Corinth. Like Corinth, its main pagan god was a female, Daphne, who was worshipped through the use of Temple prostitutes. The contrast between the lives of the new Christians and the residents of Antioch gave rise to a brand-new name for followers of Christ: “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (11:26). “Christian” was actually a derisive name. It means “little Christs.” But what was intended as an insult is actually quite a compliment. I would be honored if someone said I reminded him of Jesus! There is a new move today to avoid the word “Christian

A thirty-five-foot scroll was about as long as a book could be. All of the Bible's longest books -- Acts, Luke, Isaiah, etc. -- are about the same length. Luke began writing Acts knowing he had limited space to record the work of God in the first century. Yet he told the story of the Gentiles' conversion in great detail -- twice! This indicates the story is very important. Peter retold this story because Jewish critics didn't like him going into the home of a Gentile. They probably also didn't like Gentiles being accepted without becoming Jews and keeping the Law. (This controversy will be revisited in Acts 15.)

This chapter records one of the greatest moments in history: when the doorway to salvation is swung wide open for all non-Jews to enter! This is the moment when God makes it clear we are saved by faith alone -- not by keeping the law and becoming a Jew, not even by baptism! (The Gentiles in this story were obviously saved before they went into the water to be baptized.) After this chapter, throngs of people from all over the world will accept Christ, and within three hundred years the Roman Empire will become a Christian Empire. We have read how, after the vision of the unclean food on the sheet, Peter journeyed to Cornelius' house and preached the Gospel. Before Peter had finished his sermon, God had saved these Gentiles and made them His children.

I recently watched the movie 42, the true story of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. What a story of courage! When Robinson stepped onto the diamonds in stadiums across the nation he was subjected to horrible treatment by both players and fans. Enos Slaughter once tore open Robinson's calf muscle on purpose by sliding into it with his steel spikes. Player after player hurled racial epithets at him. It took quite a man to endure all of this without striking back. Acts 10 is the Jackie Robinson moment of the New Testament. One of the biggest barriers in world history was about to come down -- the barrier that separated all Gentiles from the people of God. When Peter walked into Cornelius' house to preach the Gospel, he was doing something just as controversial as Jackie Robinson walking onto the diamonds of major league baseball. He made it clear that he was breaking Jewish law: "'You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. Bu

When we get to Chapter Ten, we will have reached one of the great turning points in church history. The door will be opened for Gentiles to become Christians without having to become Jews. John 3:16 will become a reality: God really loves the whole world, not just the Jews. But until that moment, God worked on His messenger of the Gospel to the Jews, Peter. In order to enter a Gentile's house, something a Jew would never do, and preach the Gospel, Peter had to be stretched. These two stories of healing are a part of that stretching process.

When Green Acres Baptist in Warner Robins contacted me for an interview, I had no desire to accept -- I knew the church's reputation. Although it was a bigger and more famous church, I felt its fame was based on shallow evangelism. Green Acres held the Georgia Baptist record for most baptisms in one year: over 500! Yet members later told me they could not name one person baptized that year who was still in the church five years later. The church led people into a sinner's prayer, dunked them, and dropped them. But the day I was contacted, I had just outlined the next Sunday's sermon: "How to make disciples that last." I felt God tell me, "The sermon I just gave you was not for Loganville Baptist but for Green Acres." To my surprise, the pulpit committee felt the need to deepen their discipleship and disciple new Christians. Most churches fall short in the care of new Christians. The Great Commission does not end with baptizing new Christians. We are also to teach them to obey all things Jesus taught. Let's

This is probably the most dramatic conversion story in the Bible! The greatest enemy of the Christians becomes the greatest missionary of the Gospel! Saul the persecutor becomes Paul the apostle! Saul had already been responsible for Stephen's death and had been arresting both men and women Christians in Jerusalem. (This was especially cruel because he deprived children of their mothers.) Now he wanted to go outside Israel and arrest Jews who had deserted their faith and become Christians in Damascus. Damascus was 130 miles from Jerusalem, a six- or seven-day trip at that time. Just as he was about to enter Damascus, Jesus met him in a great light. Isn't it just like God to wait until the last minute?

Before I begin, I want to chase two rabbits regarding baptism. First, the Ethiopian official in this passage was baptized immediately upon believing in Christ. Many Christians today insist a new Christian must go through some kind of instruction prior to baptism. However, in Acts, baptism always followed salvation as soon as possible. We should encourage people to obey God and be baptized as soon as they can after salvation. The second rabbit is this. I believe the Bible teaches total immersion as the correct mode of baptism. Paul pictures immersion in Romans 6, and I believe this story points to immersion. Surely the official had a water jug in his chariot while travelling through the desert. If sprinkling would have been enough, he and Phillip could have done that anywhere. But we are told they went into a pond and came out of it. That is immersion! Now, on with the sermon!