ANC Sermon Notes: Dangerous Church, Acts 4:1-4

Dangerous Church – Acts 4:1-4 – “The Beginning of Persecution”

Acts 4:1-4 (1) The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. (2) They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. (3) They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. (4) But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.”

1. From the beginning God used personal CRISIS to spread the church.

Romans 8:18-21  (18) I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (19) The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. (20) For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope (21) that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

2. God will not allow a believer to SUFFER without a redemptive POSSIBILITY or PURPOSE.

Romans 8:26-28 (26)… The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. (27) And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

“We must realize that hope is resident in crisis and suffering!”

3. In crisis we become more HUMBLE and more DEPENDENT on those stronger than us.

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

John 1:11-13 (11) He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (12) Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— (13) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

“We tend to measure God’s presence by the lack of adversity, whereas the early church saw adversity as proof of God’s presence.”

4. In humility and dependency we find the COMFORT of a Holy God in a seemingly HOPELESS moment.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (3) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, (4) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (5) For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. (6) If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. (7) And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”

Missional Church – Serve Austin Sunday

On November 29^th Austin New Church will be canceling their regular worship serve to partner with other communities and local non-profits to serve the city through six different projects.  They are as follows:

1. DownTown GrillOut: On the corner of 7^th and Neches from 3-5pm we will be feeding over 300 of Austin’s homeless population with grilled hamburgers, chips, and sodas.
2. Restore Pandora: On the corner of Sol Wilson and Pandora Street from 3-5pm we will be partnering with Keep Austin Beautiful and the neighbors on Sol Wilson to clean up an illegal dumps site, along with enjoying some burgers on the grill.
3. Caritas Food Drive: From now until November 22nd we are doing a canned food and non-perishable food drive at Austin New Church.  Then on the opposite corner of 7^th and Neches from 3-5pm we will be teaming up with Caritas Austin to sort, label, and shelf the canned goods and non-perishables so that Caritas can better feed the Refugees who will be calling Austin home and our homeless population.
4. Restore Soli Deo Gloria: On the Corner of 4^th and Pedernales from  3-5pm we will be renovating Soli Deo Gloria so that we can better meet the felt needs of the poor and marginalized in East Austin.
5. Restore Santa Rita: On the other corner of 4^th and Pedernales from 4-6pm we will be partnering with the Austin Housing Authority to serve the residents of the Santa Rita Courts.
6. Beautify Texas Empowerment Academy: On Navasota Street and East 11^th Street from 1-3:30pm we will be focusing our efforts on playground enhancements and cleaning of the campus and classrooms of the Texas Empowerment Academy.

You can sign up now for the project you would like to be involved with by emailing me at matthew@austinnewchurch.com.

Thank you,

Matthew

Missional Church – Characteristics of a Missional Church, Pt. 3

A few weeks ago, I started a mini-blog series on the different characteristics of a missional church.  These are not my original thoughts, in fact, I am steeling this from Tim Keller.  The reason behind this series is due to the fact that the word ‘missional’ has become associated with fads and things we ‘do.’  In some churches we have figured out how to turn it into the new product we are selling to our consumeristic society.  The truth is we need to get back to the roots of mission – Keller helps us do this.  So, according to Tim Keller, the third characteristic of a missional church is a church that theologically trains the people for public life and vocation.

According to Keller, “In ‘Christendom’ you can afford to train people just in prayer, Bible study, and evangelism…because they are not facing radically non-Christian values in their public life–where they work, in their neighborhood, etc. “  Why? This is not the world we live in anymore.  We live in a world that sees no reason for God or His ethics.  In fact unlike the older more congruent atheists like Friedrich Nietzsche and his peers, who believed outside of the idea of a God there was not possibility of an internal moral code.  However, today’s neo-atheists believe that an internal moral code is possible without some sort of a god.  My point is that if this is going on with atheists, then we, as a culture, are daily moving more and more into a culture that at best compartmentalizes their life with the great secular spiritual divide, and at the extreme sees no need for God for a good world.  Due to this reality a missional church cannot afford reductionism in their biblical training, but must see all of their members as theologians, who need a deeper understanding of the knowledge of God, that does way more than alters their Sunday mornings, but completely alters their worldview.

Accoding to Keller, “In a ‘missional’ church, the laity needs theological education to ‘think Christianly’ about everything and work with Christian distinctiveness. They need to know: a) what cultural practices are common grace and to be embraced, b) what practices are antithetical to the gospel and must be rejected, c) what practices can be adapted/revised.”  If a church can do this you end up with “a ‘missional’ situation in which the lay people are renewing and transforming the culture through distinctively Christian vocations” that are no longer looked at as a simple means to pay the bills, rather as “real ‘kingdom work’ and ministry along with the traditional ministry of the Word.”

Ultimately this will produce Christians who will use the gospel to demonstrate true, Biblical love and ‘tolerance’ in “the public square” toward those with whom we deeply differ. This tolerance should equal or exceed that which opposing views show toward Christians. The charge of intolerance is perhaps the main ‘defeater’ of the gospel in the non-Christian west.

Missional Church Blog – Red Cross Certified

ANC’ers,

I want to thank and congratulate the 27 ANC’ers who gave 4 hours of their time to get trained as a Red Cross Shelter Volunteer and an official ADRN volunteer.  For those who wanted to get certified but could not due to different circumstances, we will be looking at putting on another training during the spring of 2010.  If you would like to know more about what it is you were trained for or can be trained for, I have attached a video below.

Matthew

Missional Church Blog – Cans for Caritas

ANC Friends and Families:

As many of you know, on November 29th we will be canceling our normal worship gathering to serve our city…we call this Serve Austin Sunday.  If you have never volunteered with us on one of these Sundays, then this is a must!

Anyway, one of the opportunities we have that day is to partner with Caritas of Austin to assist them in feeding the homeless and refugees of Austin through the holiday season.  So, how are we going to do this?  Glad you asked!  Starting on November 1st, we are going to be collecting canned goods and nonperishable food item for Caritas.  We will be taking these donations through November 22nd.  Then on November 29th, we will be taking all we have collected to Caritas, so we can sort through them, label them, and shelve them so that Caritas will have what they need to feed those in need in our city.

So, how can you be involved?  Starting this Sunday (11/01) and through the 22nd, bring as many canned goods and nonperishable foods as you can to Austin New Church on Sundays at 10:30 am!  We will have a box in the back of the auditorium to collect all the canned goods and nonperishable foods.

Have a great week!

Matthew

 

ANC Sermon Notes – Knowing: The Mission of God

To know the mission we are on, we must know the goal of that Mission:

• Adam – God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule…over ALL the earth…so, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; FILL THE EARTH AND SUBDUE IT…. The question is, what are they to fill the earth and subdue it with – the image and the likeness of God!
• Noah – The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time…So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created… But I will establish my covenant with you…”Be fruitful and increase in number and FILL THE EARTH….I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you…
• Abraham - Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.  “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and ALL PEOPLES ON EARTH, will be blessed through you…”Why did God tell Abraham to do this…
• Isaac – ALL NATIONS OF THE EARTH will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.”
• Moses – Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.  For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.  But I have raised you up for this very purpose, (In other words, why has God allowed all this to happen?) that I might show you my power and that MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED IN ALL THE EARTH!
• David – God promises David an everlasting covenant that will reign forever
• Psalm 86:9 – ALL THE NATIONS…will bring glory to your name…
• 1 Chronicles 16 – Sing to the Lord, ALL THE EARTH; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples…Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength…Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
• Solomon – 1 Kings 8 – for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven…so that ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel…
• The Prophets –
  • Ezekiel 36 – …‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name …then THE NATIONS WILL KNOW that I am the Lord…
  • Habakkuk 2:14 - …THE EARTH WILL BE FILLED with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord…
  • Isaiah 2:1-2: This is what Isaiah saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and ALL NATIONS WILL STREAM TO IT.
  • Isaiah 49:6 – God says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.”
  • Malachi 1:11 – …my name will be great AMONG THE NATIONS, and in every place incense is going to be offered to my name…for my name WILL be great among the nations
• Gospels:
  • John 17 – I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do…I manifested Your name to the men You gave me…
  • The Commission – Go into ALL THE WORLD and make disciples of ALL nations…teaching them to obey everything I have taught you…
  • John 12 – Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.  “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.   Father, glorify your name!”  Jesus said…when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
  • The Apostles: Paul interprets this to the Romans by saying,  through Him and for His name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship TO CALL PEOPLE FROM AMONG ALL THE GENTILES to the obedience that comes from faith…”

So, the question was, What is God’s goal for history: For his name to be eternally glorified through the salvation of many; the restoration of creation; and full establishment of his everlasting kingdom

Now the question is HOW is God going to bring this goal for history to fruition…this is the mission we are on…when we say, the mission of God, we are talking about

• how God is going to ‘make all things new’ or
• how he is going to establish an everlasting kingdom, or
• how his name will be glorified for ever, through the salvation of many….

Short answer to HOW – go into the world and make disciples teaching them to obey all I have commanded you…What is Jesus’ command to us? Love God with all our heart, and love people as we would ourselves…

So how do we do that?

John 14:8-10:

Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority (God is known through, “the words he has given us…”), Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (In other words, God is doing a work in humanity as we speak His word, his news, his gospel…)….

So, here God makes himself known through his word…the Gospel:

So, first and foremost the Gospel is a spoken word…this makes sense, if we think about it…Let’s go back to the God we were made to image –

• How did God bring something out of nothing? How did God bring life out of the lifeless?  He spoke and it was!  He is a God who creates through word, He is the God who created a people to image him by speaking His words of life to those who are dead!
• Ezekiel is told to SPEAK to dead dry bones and life would come into them…
• Jesus commanded the sick to be healed and the dead to raise through…the Word…
• John, Luke, Paul, James and Peter all concur that those who hear the words of God and believe and obey them will not be condemned but have eternal life…
• Mark tells us that the growth of the Kingdom comes when people “hear the word” of God and “accept it…”
• Jesus said, a true disciple is the one who abides in his word…
• Paul tells Timothy that a good pastor is one who uses the word of God for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, and not only does he tell him that it is good, but sufficient…
• The writer of Hebrews says, that the word of God is active and living, and sharper than any two edged sword…
• James tells us that God chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth…
• Through out the book of Acts the foundation statements around the spreading of the church are those like…
  • So the word of God spread
  • The word of God continued to increase and multiply…
  • The word of the Lord increased and prevailed mightly
• Romans 1:16 - I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 – All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

Premise #1: The Mission of God is happening in individuals when they are being reconciled to God by the Message of the Gospel.

… Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father…

• Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
• Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do
• 1 Peter 2:12 – Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify god on the day he visits
• James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

Premise #2: The Mission of God is happening when cultures are socially being renewed through good works…

When you put the two premises together, we conclude with the following:

The Mission of God is happening when we are committed to the individual, collective and social renewal through the Gospel & Good Works!

So, where do we do this…

Acts 17:26-27 –

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us

Proverbs 25 – Flippant

Just a quick thought for today from chapter 25.

It’s interesting how some things we calculate and measure our response to, and others we don’t. The more common a relationship becomes, the more loosely we tend to be with our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Outside of our own families and friends… I would imagine this is mostly true with our co-workers and neighbors. Those we tend to see every day more from proximity than relationship.

If you argue your case with a neighbor, do not betray another man’s confidence, or he who hears it may shame you and you will never lose your bad reputation.” – Proverbs 25:9-10

The impact is huge. And we have to be aware how quickly we can become a stumbling block to others. Random verse pops into my mind:

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.” – Romans 14:20

In the same way… I’m reminded that we should not destroy the work of God for the sake of… loose words, careless actions, inconsiderate attitudes… and often our greatest fault with our neighbors, neglect.

The reason our families forgive us is because they know us. They know our heart and we have relationship equity. It doesn’t make our wrong actions right, but it certainly makes a difference in maintaining our reputation with those who love us. This is just one of a million biblical reasons to make our faith about more than ourselves… but to love our neighbors as well. So that they might know who we really are… and forgive us when we screw up.

Missional Church – Characteristics of a Missional Church, Pt. 2

Last week, I started a mini-blog series on the different characteristics of a missional church.  These are not my original thoughts, in fact, I am steeling this from Tim Keller.  The reason behind this series is due to the fact that the word ‘missional’ has become associated with fads, things we ‘do’, and in some churches we have figured out how to turn it into the new product we are selling to our consumeristic society.

Last we talked about a discourse in vernacular, and this week we will talk about the entering and re-telling of our culture with the gospel:

Enter and re-tell the culture’s stories with the gospel

• In “Christendom” it is possible to simply exhort Christianized people to “do what they know they should.” There is little or no real engagement, listening, or persuasion. It is more a matter of exhortation (and often, heavy reliance on guilt.) In a missional church preaching and communication should always assume the presence of skeptical people, and should engage their stories, not simply talk about “old times.”

As far back as the age of Constantine Christianity has set the tone of western culture.  Sure, there have been cultures that we can point to in which Christianity was not even visible, but as a whole we have monopolized the world with our ‘western’ brand of Christianity.  Around 1925, ‘We’ won a case called the Scopes Monkey Trial, but lost the moral battle.  On an allegorical level we took our ball and went home!  Ever since then there has been a growing great divide between the Christian world and the Secular World.  We have removed ourselves from every realm of influence!  The world didn’t kick us out, we left!  A missional church will, with humility and teachability, enter the culture we live in. take part of it, and engage hate with love, injustice with justice, oppression with joy, and chaos with peace.

• To “enter” means to show sympathy toward and deep acquaintance with the literature, music, theater, etc. of the existing culture’s hopes, dreams, ‘heroic’ narratives, fears.

Can we just stop playing the, “I don’t get it game.”  Can we stop acting like we are better than.  The truth is, we have all experienced the same dashed dreams, lost loves, hopeless feelings as everyone else.  We know what it means to dream of a better world.  We can relate to the vision of a better city where justice is practiced and truth is exalted.  This is the dream of humanity, because it is the image of God in all of humanity.  So, lets not enter with passivity, rather engage with the sympathy, empathy and vision that God has given us for the cities we live in…

• The older culture’s story was–to be a good person, a good father/mother, son/daughter, to live a decent, merciful, good life.  Now the culture’s story is– a) to be free and self-created and authentic (theme of freedom from oppression), and b) to make the world safe for everyone else to be the same (theme  of inclusion of the ‘other’; justice).

This one kind of explains itself.

Until next week,

Matthew

• To “re-tell” means to show how only in Christ can we have freedom without slavery and embracing of the ‘other’ without injustice.

Proverbs 24 – The General Contractor

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” – Proverbs 24:3-4

And by house, it means anything worth building, anything of value, and/or anything worthy of pursuit. This could be our actual house. It could be our life and spiritual journey. It could be our family. It could be the fruit of our leadership. The list goes on and on. So go and read those two verses again and see what comes to mind.

Then continue on to verse 5:

A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength” – Proverbs 24:5

So here’s the reason wisdom (vs3) and knowledge (vs4) are necessary for building these things. They in themselves are a provision of God when sought for the right reasons. He is the source. (And let’s not forget who’s the cornerstone).

It catches my eye that it doesn’t say “my” house is built and is filled with “my” possessions. It simply reminds that “a” house is built. That’s probably a pretty telling piece of the story as well.

Father, what I have is yours. Help me to never forget. Forgive me when I hold it hostage. Forgive me when I perform for you and try to please you with my stuff and what I can do. And thank you for entrusting me with so much. From my family to ANC, may I never take them for granted. Amen.

Proverbs 23 – Gluttony & Church Planting

Monday I had the opportunity to share parts of the vision of Austin New Church with some church planters, potential planters, and resident planters at Hill Country Bible Church. It was humbling to share with them knowing that I’m just over a year and a half into the journey and the fact that I was sitting in their shoes not too long ago.

I was reminded how it felt to hear from a guy further down the road on the church-planting journey than I was. I found myself fighting the urge to wish I were there already. Not that I wanted to skip all the ground-work… honestly, it’s been some of the sweetest times…  but I remember feeling a little bit jealous, I assumed they were at a little bit more of a cool time in their planting journey than I was, and that what they had seemed so perfect.

Enter Proverbs 23:

When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.” – Proverbs 23:1-3

While I know this isn’t talking about church planting, it’s still talking about a part of our nature we should be aware of.

I can’t help but think about the fact that the “ruler” is not quantified as either bad or good. It just paints a picture of a leader who “has”. The challenge for us is to not focus on the result of his authority, position, privilege or even success… in fact, vs.2 likens that attitude to gluttony (or at least the risk for gluttony). Why the connection? The results that often masquerade as a delicacy are often accompanied by deceptive, unrealistic and often unhealthy, thought processes. It can be distracting to our motives to look more at the ends than the means. We end up wanting the wrong thing or even the right things for the wrong reasons.

And honestly, things are rarely operating as smoothly on the inside as they seem on the outside. It’s kind of a wasted mental exercise. There are always hidden costs. Some that the ruler themselves don’t even see. Some of those costs are worthwhile, while some, not so much.

We could probably apply this to anything. Whether that’s in pursuing success, wanting a different car or house, a better job, the next promotion, more money, or whatever it is the “other guy” has. It always seems better.

I have a feeling that what we’ll all find out (if we haven’t already) that getting there is rarely better than the ride, mostly because we never really arrive. And since we don’t, we’ll always be chasing… something. It’s kind of like golf. Until you go out and shoot an 18, you can always do better. So you’ve got to find the joy in practicing and finding the right mechanics, in actually making a putt every now and then, maybe even in teaching others, or maybe in just enjoying the company of spending a few hours with a good friend.

If we learn to find and focus on HIM in the journey, we’ll also find His joy, peace, contentment, and His purpose. And we’ll easily find HIM in the victories (Here’s a hint: He’ll be all over it). Don’t miss the ride!