Acts 4:23-37

Discussion Questions

• What does God’s sovereignty mean to you? How does God’s sovereignty function in times of crisis today? How is Jesus sovereign in your life?
• What does living boldly for Christ mean to you? How can we be more generous in our lives, and what would that look like? How can we model boldness for Jesus and yet have that boldness come across as grace to others?
• How do you deal with threats or adversity in your life? What do you do to manage these challenges? How and where can Jesus be brought into these situations?
• If the word of Jesus is beautifully offensive, have you ever been at odds with someone or a situation when the words of Jesus have been discussed? How did you respond to that situation?

Transcript

The story that we land in today, one of the many reasons I love this church family is from the get-go certain things were put in place as non-negotiables. And one was actually when we talked about finding a place to park in Franklin. You said, “We’re going to start a Bible study that may or may not become a church.” And that first phrase, truly is who you are. We want to open God’s Word with a group of people and see more of Jesus and live out of that. And that really defines The Village Chapel more than anything else. And fortunately, that’s exactly where this part of the book of Acts is taking us today. If you are new to this church, family may be passing through this particular week in Nashville, Tennessee, what are the wonderful things about The Village chapel? Is it their commitment to go through the whole council of God from Genesis to Revelation, firmly committed to looking for Jesus and every part of the unfolding history of redemption and always making much of Jesus and any part of Scripture that they are working through? Well, they trust people like me when schedules allow and the need is there to join the community here.

But pick up where the text left off, and I consider that a sacred trust. You know, a lot of us who get to travel and speak into different environments, sometimes there’s this gracious assumption, oh, just teach or preach something. That’s your go-to, you know, what’s fresh. And that sometimes can function well, but it’s a greater honor to say, where does the Lord have you in His Word? And let me listen as I would pray about stepping into that conversation with you. So, for us this morning, we’re going to be looking at Acts, Chapter 4, verse 23. And it follows the first half of chapter four in Acts, which if you were here last week, you remember here is the context: Spirit of God has been poured out on the young church, even as God promised in His Word. God promised that a time would come. And Jesus redoubled that emphasis by saying, I am going to leave you, but I’m not going to leave you as orphans. In fact, I’m going to leave you in such a fashion that you’re going to be glad that I’m going, because I’m going to ascend to the Father after resurrection, and I will give you My Presence. And what they came to understand was the person, the Holy Spirit.

Well, these first four chapters, of course, of the book of Acts, show what happened in time, space, history, when indeed Jesus did not stay dead, but was bodily raised, ascended to the right hand of the Father. And then in chapter two, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place, and the outpouring of the Spirit was remarkable for many reasons. One, it was God making good on His promise that it was always His intent to be in every nation. Savior always. I come from a background in the Christian story that, did not inform me well with a lot with regard to the Gospel and the Bible. And I kind of grew up in a world, in North Carolina, not throwing shade on North Carolina, but that’s where this accent comes from. But I grew up in a church environment that basically said God has two favorite nations, Israel and America, and everybody else just gets to benefit from us. Well, I don’t know where that was rooted. It was certainly not rooted in Scripture. And it’s especially not rooted when we think about God’s commitment eventually to have a family so big He chose the image of stars, sand and dust. When he converted a pagan moon worshiper named Abraham, made of Abraham a nation which is the nation Israel, that would prove to be the nation of the Messiah Jesus.

So, all this has been unfolding for the whole Word of God. God is committed to be a great and gracious Redeemer. He will have a family from every single people, group and nation that have ever sucked oxygen gathering eventually into this renewed world called the new Heaven and a new Earth. Well, that’s important for where we jump in that Acts, Chapter 4. See, knowing the larger story helps us in any particular time in our own life to think about crises, to think about rest, to think about what we don’t like, about waking up in March 2026. It’s kind of a vulnerable day we wake up into. Right? I mean, we’re coming in here. There’s a lot of givens. We’re glad to be here. We love this church. We know what we’re going to get. We come to Village Chapel. But we cannot and we should not disregard that. Right now, this world is in crisis. But for some of you, it’s not so much what’s going on in the Middle East right now, as much as what’s going on in your heart, your marriage, your family, your health. But see, the Bible always anticipates brokenness, and it welcomes we who come to understand globally and personally. I am not enough. And the things I really wonder if I can hope that can be different.

We see that’s really a part of what we’re going to find in the Scripture I’m about to read. The church is under threat. And internationally, it’s a time that it’s not easy to be a Christian. Yeah, there’s a lot of awesome stuff God promised that is underway. The very fact that awesome stuff is underway, it should not shock anybody that opposition would emerge. And opposition, indeed, emerged early. Part of chapter four Peter and John had been used by our sovereign Father to heal a man that had been crippled. He was 40 years old and it was undeniable that this man who could not walk is now seen in the streets of Jerusalem is alive. And look at the course, because it’s all about Jesus. Peter and John are going to interpret any great act of God in terms of Jesus, because Jesus is the only hero in the Bible from truly Genesis to Revelation. The main hero in the entire Bible is Jesus. And so there they watch this, lame man leaping and dancing and praising God, and invariably what we would call in our world of political ideology, right and left, both hate the fact that the name Jesus is attributed to the healing of this man.

And so, Peter and John were arrested, and they were put in prison and they were threatened. You cannot talk anymore about this person, Jesus. You cannot, because bad things will happen to you and yours if you do. Enough going on in their world, living under the reign of Nero, truly a narcissist and megalomaniac who before long would start using Christians to blame for the burning down of Rome. But in every direction. Life is not easy for the group of people we’re listening to today. So, Peter and John, they hear the threats, but then they are released from their prison. And we pick up our reading at verse 23 of what happened next. So, a threatened church, threatened apostles, political crazy in the world, their version, the missiles flying everywhere, political right, political left. Everybody hates these people identifying with Jesus. So, what do they do? Let me take up our reading. Acts 4, verse 23. “On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them when they heard this,” meaning there are people. We’ll come back to that in a minute. “When those who heard the report heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. ‘Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one.”

“’Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly, all the believers were in one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own. But they shared everything they had with great power. The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was with them. Oh, there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, then the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

This is God’s Word for God’s people. Thanks be to God. And would you pray with me for a moment? Father, again, thank you for the privilege of marinating in this text for a second time this morning, Lord, because it is it has convicted me afresh and has encouraged me afresh. Lord, it is righting my imbalance. It is showing me the gospel lanes that You’re always calling us as Your people to live and, Lord, not as boundaries, but as a true route, a true direction of peace and freedom. Lord, I pray You protect these whom You cherish from anything I would preach or teach today that truly is not anchored in the whole of Your Scripture. And Lord, I know, will be woefully, under able to reveal the glory of Your Son, Jesus, because that’s the work Your Spirit alone can do. So come, Spirit. We see You remarkably in this text. Come, Spirit, come afresh and open our hearts to the beauty, the goodness, and the truth of Jesus. And, Lord, help a very fine church, a wonderful church, Lord, getting ready to celebrate a quarter of a century of your faithfulness. Lord, help them. Help us to gather, voice afresh the cells of our heart to Your breath, O God, to the work of Your Spirit. Lord, restore many of us to the joy of our salvation. Restore many of us, Lord Jesus, to our first love for you, because your love has never waned. Lord, may the next months and years of The Village Chapel, Lord, just be filled with the goodness that we are about to read, Lord. So help us, Lord, and humble us, gladden us. Thank You, Lord, that we’re so close to once again celebrating, a real cross and real resurrection, a real ascension, a real Savior, namely You, Lord Jesus, in whose name we do pray. Amen.

Well, for we who have the calling to work in Scripture, sometimes we work too hard to try to find a cute little outline or acrostic, something to help us hold onto stuff. We don’t have to do this with this text, that there’s nothing that has to be strained. It’s kind of like, just get out of the way, walk through these verses and look very clearly at five things that are clearly here for us that represent, here’s what a church that is more or freshly defined by the truth, goodness and beauty of Jesus. Here’s what she will look like. Here’s what she will be about. Now, the five things I’m going to share with you through this text are simply that are there, are not steps. They’re not a pragmatic trajectory. They’re way of saying, if God would be pleased in your heart, in my heart, to bring us afresh to renewal, to gospel renewal, maybe even little R or big R revival. Here are five things that will be represented that come forward in this text, and they’re going to be up on the screen one by one. But they really do show us, basically, a vignette, a gospel-saturated fellowship.

Now, starting with this one, the first thing I want to highlight in verses 23 and 24 is this, this community, this fellowship, God’s greatness compelled them to worship. Sit in the image of that first before even look at the verses. See, it’s one thing to know that we’re supposed to gather to worship. And you know what? That is a covenantal responsibility. It’s good if you had to drag yourself out of bed here today, it’s good if there’s a part of you that said, I don’t really want to right now, I’d rather sleep. I got a busy day of watching a lot of basketball. I need to kind of prepare myself, you know. Oh, but I will get up because I know Christians are supposed to worship the Lord. And we are, because we’re always worshiping something. There are no non-worshipers in this room. Every one of us, every hour, every day, are living by something that, at least in the moment, is ultimate. Something that offers hope. It can be different or this is worthy of my mind, my imagination and my body. So, the discipline of worship is an important thing, but that’s not really what we’re looking at here.

You know, we just read that Peter and John are released and they go to their people. And again, I love that image. You go to their people. It’s probably, some of their closest brothers and sisters in Jesus at this point in the community. It certainly represents that they know that all of us need to be in community with other believers. And now a lot of us are carrying a lot of real and understandable baggage when we say the word church. Just don’t use the word church right now as much as saying, if I belong to Jesus, I belong to his people. And he really intends me to be a part in every season of life with those that identify with Jesus and love Him and want to see more of His churches planted in places in the world and really, not retreating, but moving forward. This is what we see here. Peter and John, they go and they report for that. But the first thing that happens is everybody there raises their voices. They are compelled to worship. The Apostle Paul uses a similar image in 2 Corinthians 5, when he talks about why he chose to do what he did as an apostle, as a converted man, compelled by the love of Christ, compelled by love from Christ, compelled by love for Christ.

We don’t live as though we are our own. We’ve been bought, we’ve been purchased. And what we do, we live by being compelled by the love of Christ. It’s a similar compulsion going on here. I mean, I love how this language plays out. Look at these two verses 23 and 24. They go back to their own people. And when the community heard their report, “They raised their voices together in prayer. ‘Sovereign Lord…’” Now see, this is the next thing we want to say in terms of what it means to be really compelled to worship. First words out of their mouth, are indicative of a people that are really coming to understand the God of the Bible, sovereign Lord, in a moment when life maybe feels more random again, let’s put ourselves in their place. Will the church survive Nero? Will the church survive religious people? Will the church survive political liberalism or conservativism, which again, were both thriving in this culture? And their first response is “Sovereign Lord.” See, there’s some when worship is compelling us because of the bigness of our God. When worship becomes something that you find in yourself, I will, in a fresh way recenter myself on this one. Sovereign Lord. They cry out, “Sovereign Lord.”

And look at their theology, further shaping this moment, this prayer gathering, that no one said reach for a guitar. They could not worship. That’s what it means to be compelled to worship. And here’s what is said about this sovereign Lord: “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.” How about that coming out of the gate? When we are in times like we are this morning? Once again, I know it. I’m feeling vulnerable this morning, yet I’m not ashamed of it. It’s a vulnerable season in the world. Vulnerability means you’ve got to pause. It means it. Lord, right now there’s a lot of stuff going on and I will go somewhere with it. Sovereign Lord. So, here’s what we’re. It’s that “Lord, You’re not just someone that gave us Jesus. You made everything. Lord, you made the earth and everything on it. You made the sea and everything in it.”  So here is a community that this community has always been. I again, I can’t read this. I’m not here to flatter, The Village Chaple. Fortunately, this church has wanted to major on the essential things. And this is one of them. Sovereign Lord, You are God. We are not. Don’t let us forget. And You created the world of Eden even before You needed to reveal Yourself as a redeemer.

See, when things feel real, fragile and out of control, how we think about God, who God actually is, brings us to the point of what we will see in an unfolding fashion here. So indeed, number 1 to 5, God’s greatness compelled them to worship. At number two, flowing right out of the words we just read, God’s Word shaped their worldview. Truly these words “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,” that’s a worldview. Friends. Worldview is our cosmology. It’s how we think about stuff. It’s do I live by metaphor or by the reality of inhabit a body? I inhabit a world. There’s stuff all around me, above me, below me. Where does it come from? Well, this God alone, worthy of our worship, they are acknowledging as creator, as a sustainer, and as one who has through His Word, clearly, early on, has put in motion a story that will always take us to Jesus. That’s why, as this church is praying, they are praying Scripture right back to the Lord, which, by the way, we cannot do any better than praying the Bible. If you’re ever in doubt about what to pray, open the Bible and pray it back to the Lord. And a good place to start is the Book of Psalms. You see, that’s what’s going on right here.

Notice what they pray, what really is fueling what their worship actually smells with, “Lord, You’re not only creator, sustainer of everything and you, not Caesar, as Lord and you, O God and not the threats are what should grab our attention afresh. And you spoke, Lord, again through the word.” This is from Psalm two. They’re praying a part of Psalm 2, verse 25; “You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David, ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’” Now pause here for a moment, two or three things that are remarkable when we talk about being, you know, a people having the Bible shape our worldview. This is such a beautiful expression. Now they knew the history of Psalm two, that’s one of the great things about the Bible. Two thirds of it are written in narrative form, and we live by story. So when we really know the story, the big story of the whole Bible, but the individual stories playing out, we can begin to say that God is worthy. I worship God, and God alone is God.

And so, they knew this about Psalm 2, which is where this fear is coming from. Let me give you a little background about Psalm 2. As mentioned here, King David is ascribed authorship of Psalm 2. But also notice that the Holy Spirit is the one who authored Psalm 2 through King David to a high view of Scripture here and at some point, in our journey, we do need to deal with it. Can I trust the Bible? Where did it come from? And you know, the Bible’s own testimony is that it is a gift of God Himself to a very needy people. And so, God, upon the writing of Psalm 2, here’s a couple of things going on. Then David was a king, but David was not any ordinary king. David knew from the very time he was anointed to be king that he was very temporary, that he would just be a pointer towards the ultimate king, that in God’s timing would come. Great to have a king that says, I am not the point. I’m a pointer, right? That’s a leader you can trust. I will occupy this position, this calling, this anointing, whatever it might be, with due humility. And King David, as he wrote Psalm 2, he knew I am positioned on the least likely to have been a king of Israel, but God anointed me, established me, He set me in a position that will eventually show that one will come who alone is the ruler of the kings of the earth. Who alone will have what it takes to save God’s every nation and possible to count family, who alone one day will take on the calling to make all things new.

David did not know His name, but he does know now that King is Jesus. But look at the way Psalm 2 is written. Nations are raging, people are running around in the earth. And what you have described here is a world that is at war with God Himself from every direction, every ideology, every corner of the earth. God writes Psalm 2 through David as a way of saying, this will mark all of history until the true King comes and does His work and eventually brings the fullness of His work. Rage, fighting, tension, war – you know, we should not be shocked at the world we live in. We shouldn’t lament deeply because it’s not the world God intended for us to know. And it’s not the world that God is going to leave us in. Nations are raging once again. Let’s just see how this group of young believers, they know the Scripture and they know now that Jesus is the one that was spoken of early in David’s kingship, verse 27, we see the third of five things that we want to highlight from this text that are that that would be marks are just indicative of when the Spirit of God is freshly running through your heart, my heart or a community of believers were walking with, along with being compelled to worship this God. Not many got it.

Along with really loving the Bible, not worshiping the Bible that was building the olive tree, but seeing Jesus everywhere in the Bible. Third, notice in this scripture number 3 or 5, God’s Son Jesus focused their very experience of suffering. Verse 27: “Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and the world had decided beforehand. Now consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” This is truly convicting and is truly beautiful. And oh, for faith, for you and for me to live into this image here. You know, when you feel really vulnerable and threatened and weak, what many times do your prayers look like? What too many times do my prayers look like? “Lord, save me, protect me. Don’t let harm come to those I love and cherish.” You know. And those aren’t bad prayers, by the way, because we even talked about Jesus as a good shepherd earlier today, and the Lord cares for our needs more than anyone. But this is not where this church went. In light of real threats and real opposition. It’s not “Lord protect us,” it’s “Lord embolden us all the more to identify with Jesus. Lord, here’s what’s going on, Lord.”

Psalm 2 we plot in our context because Your Word is relevant to every generation of Your people. And right now, here’s what it looks like in every corner of our life and culture. It seems to be just really willing to sign on for anything. So, we can either pray, “Lord, get us out of here quick. Well, Lord, just supernaturally hide us in the cleft of Your protection” or “Lord, would You grant us to more fully see Jesus’s beauty, to feast on His goodness, to know that His truth is not a bunch of claim to verses, but it is a narrative that claims us in all of history. Lord, enable us in a time of fear and concern to speak with great boldness.” Now what would that look like? Verse 30, we’re going to see, now moving into this, picture of crying out for power. But it’s going to be power, not to leap over tall buildings in a single bound. That would be Superman. It’s going to be power to serve the community. “Lord, enable us to identify with Jesus your Christ, your Anointed One, who is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. The one who right now is more sovereign over the kings of the earth than that any of these people rattling the saber, Lord, enable us. And here’s what we want you to do, Lord.”

Verse 30, God’s Spirit number 4 or 5, empowering their witness. “Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word. [Bonus] Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Tim Keller years ago, used to talk about how we need to see the miracles of the Bible or these dramatic breaking in of God’s Spirit, opening blind eyes, healing bodies, breaking demonic power. He said it would be better for us not to call those miracles. That’s not a bad word, he said. But really, they are a renormalization of the way God intended life to be. So, Jesus comes not just to help you get ready to die. Some of you growing up in Christian subculture, that’s what you think. Make sure you trust Jesus before you die. Which, by the way, I’m not dissing on that. That would be a very good thing to do. But Jesus has come to give us life. Physically, emotionally. Mentally. Jesus is calling us not to take over anything, not to dominate anything, but to have stewardship over all things. It is our father’s rule. This is not our world. And so, the prayer here, “Lord, we want Your spirit.” We’re so thankful that this man that Peter and John got to see dancing, who just been crippled for so long, Lord, do that not to make us look good, not to get us straight, friend.

This is why Jesus has come to set captives free to heal the brokenhearted. To make limbs work again. Because that is what Jesus has secured for us. See, one day, friends, if you know Him, your body and mind is looking a lot older. It will be glorified but not glorified to fulfill your vain imagination of what a cute you will look like one day. These whole bodies will be void of all sin or vanity or self-centeredness. They will be. We will be whole, completely whole. That’s a part of what Jesus, who His resurrection is secured for us, along with a resurrected cosmos. It’s why we live in crisis moments with hope, not height. We’re not here to be fired up. We’re not here to say this can read the Bible and remember, oh, we read the end of the book and we win. We don’t win anything, friends. The Lamb of God, Jesus, has triumphed over all things, including your heart and my heart. And so, the prayer, “Lord, would you give us as your people when it’s easy and when it’s not manifestations of your spirit? Lord, that will be for the common good.” You’re going to see what that looks like a bit more specifically here in a minute. Well, they’re praying not to be awesome. They’re praying, Lord, just help us love in our community among broken people.

And so, what did the Lord do? They’re praying for power, for boldness, not brazenness. That’s not brashness. They’re praying to be changed. So, verse 31, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. And all believers were of one heart and one mind. And no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own. But they shared everything they had with great power. The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was with them all.” Let’s make the connection here. One things I don’t like about my old NIV ’84, and that’s the language God speaks in. But there’s a paragraph, and sometimes there’ll be a break and a paragraph and oh, we’re going to another topic here and in my beloved NIV ‘84, there’s like a paragraph thing. And then there’s another statement almost trying to make you think, okay, then something else altogether didn’t happen. Something else happened. But what we just read was this.

All right, they’re praying. They’re worshiping a God that is compelling to be worshiped. He is so awesome. He is so near. He is so generous. He is so God. And we are so not Him. And He’s already done so much as He promised, because every promise that He made it finds it, yes, in Jesus. And so, they’re praying, “Lord, do great things in our midst.” And here’s number five of five. Here’s the great thing He did in their midst: God’s grace transformed their lives. So, you go from a room shaken and some of you are old enough like me, Hallelujah, to have lived through the best of the Jesus movement. Can I get an amen? When you know, you know. I will not glorify the Jesus movement. I’ll say I’m old enough. I’m 76 now, so I came to faith in ‘68. I know remarkable visitations of God’s Spirit. Hallelujah! And they’re not done yet. We need to be aware of the fact that the Lord is doing remarkable things throughout His world. And we need to really tune in to a larger awareness that right now, really in the last ten years, there have been more people per capita coming to Jesus in Iran than almost any country in the world. Iran is God’s Iran.

I don’t want to digress here. Here’s the visitation of the Holy Spirit. And I love the language “…and much grace was on them all. They all spoke the Word of God boldly…” How much grace? So much grace that I did begin living is a steward, not an owner. Can you imagine so much freedom? And you see, this contradicts what happens when we get nervous and vulnerable and we’re in transitions. Darlene and I just finished 50 years of on staff pastoral ministry, and I’m not on the staff anymore. And it felt a little vulnerable there for the first 15 minutes. Then it felt pretty good. But the point is this, transitions in life… I used to do… I used to go… I used to be in that. Okay. So, what’s life all of these are grabbing? Oh my gosh, Lord, for the last four days, the Dow dropped. You know, Lord, be gracious to your people to reverse the Dow tomorrow. So, there’s something. And listen, I’m not playing loose and fancy with investments and stuff like that. But talk about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. No one lived as though anything they had belonged to them. And see, there’s no communism here. There’s no socialism, there’s no mandated… If you really love Jesus, go to your safety deposit box and give Jim and Kim the title to your piece of property.

Some of you to think if God would only cure that blind person, then the gospel would be true. The gospel is true. Peter and John got out of this imprisonment a couple of chapters later, James is going to be in prison. The church is going to pray, and he’s going to lose his head. He’s going to be delivered to Heaven, not out of prison. The same sovereign God is writing a story because this sovereign God is determined that all of history is bound up with what He’s doing in and through the person of Jesus. And therefore, suffering is not ultimate. I’m so thankful that Alzheimer’s and cancer have an expiration date. I’m so glad that political insanity as an expiration date. I’m so glad that privatization and racism and inequity all have an expiration date. I’m so glad that this same Jesus who will not only wipe away our tears, we’re redeemed. The pain behind our tears.

This is the Jesus we serve in 2026, and there’s a lot of stuff going on in our world that our God is well informed about. This house was shaken. One of the biggest themes of shaking in the entire Bible is God saying to us, I only have only one unshakable kingdom. Everything else will be shaken, folks. We don’t look for the church to get her act together or for some new president three administrations down the road. We don’t look for that, we look for Jesus. Jesus right now is a ruler of the kings of the Earth. He is right now the wonderful, more so, great high priest that’s praying for us. He is the fulfillment of the whole Word of God. And it’s our joy to own our vulnerability, our fears. It’s our joy to say, Lord, thank you for always bringing us back to the gospel. In the first service, amid the parallel that I saw this passage, kind of like knowing who I am as a fly fisherman, which is a lot of time more talk than show. But one thing I do know about my fly fishing, every year I’ve got to relearn just the rhythms of a cast. And that’s been added this year with the reality my balance is not the same, and as you get older, you’ve got to learn things and you’ve got to be aware of the fact, Lord, I need You more than ever, not less.

And see, the beauty of the Scripture is, it’s calling us into an amazing river of life, an amazing stream called the River of Life that flowed in Eden, that will flow through the new Heaven, a new Earth. And you see, our calling is just to get in that stream together afresh. Wouldn’t you love to live through a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Well, let me say you are right now, by the way, the Spirit is working inside of you every single day, 24/seven gossiping that you are a beloved son and daughter of the living God. A lot of it is not “Give us something big,” but “Lord help me listen.” What voices am I listening to more today than Your Spirit bearing witness with my spirit that I belong to You, that You love me. I will conclude with this in prayer. You see, it is a matter of this talking about possessions and being generous, precious friends. If you know Jesus by grace through faith, which is the only way to know Him, here’s a few of the things that are true of you right now that we dare not forget, that do shape everything else.

Right now, if you know this Jesus who came for you and came for me and is coming again, right now, if you know Him, all of your sins have been forgiven, past, present, and future, word, thought and deed, all of them, not the 16% you’re aware of. Right now, you’ve already passed through judgment to life. God has declared you eternally righteous in Christ. He cannot love you any more than He does today. And don’t quickly “Yes, but…” that. “Well, if He really loved me, wouldn’t He… let Him fill in the blanks. He loves you. He delights in you. This is your Father’s world. He’s made you a son, made us sons and daughters. He’s appointed the very day, because He’s a merciful God, when He will send back Jesus to finish making all things new. But Jesus is doing that right now. If it pleases the Lord to give us some extraordinary visitations of the Spirit. Hallelujah! But His ordinary, every-single-day work of His Spirit is in our midst, the Word and Sacrament through just the Gospel, the Spirit that is sealed us living in us. The Lord has all things well under His control. He is not just our sovereign Lord. He is our Abba Father. You can trust Him. I can trust Him. Let’s do so together. Amen.

Pray with me: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thank You truly for Village Chapel, Lord, and for all these years that Jim and Kim, Lord, with such creativity and class, but also with such humility and dependance, Lord, have gone through the raptures and ruptures of being pastors, and I thank you for them. I thank You for a church wise enough, Lord, to create a new, context for them, Lord, to trust this remarkable team, Lord, that you’ve put together here at Village Chapel and will continue to grow. Lord, we do pray for Kim’s health and healing. Pray for them as they, Lord, will further realize new ways that you’re calling them to serve this community in the larger community. But Lord, today, thank You that two Sundays out from Easter, you have just given us some fresh aroma of what You’re always up to. Lord, we are appropriately concerned about wars, not just rumors of war. In King Jesus, we thank You, that is the Prince of Peace. You are our peace now and You will bring peace to bear. War is not ultimate. Your kingdom is. Keep us humble. Keep us thankful, keep us generous. Lord, Lord, show all of us how to live far more in this upcoming season. Palms up, palms up in praise, and palms up in releasing what we think we have to have and cannot afford to lose. Come Spirit, come bring glory to Jesus. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs:

“All Creatures Of Our God And King“ by St. Francis of Assisi
“Come, Christians, Join to Sing“ by Christian H. Bateman, arr. Zach White
“My Jesus I Love Thee“ by William R. Featherston and Adoniram Judson Gordon
“Jesus, Firm Foundation“ by George Keith, R. Keen
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used with permission. CCLI License no. 2003690

Looking for our Hymns of the Week or resources to worship anytime? We’ve curated a playlist of hymns TVC Worship has led over the years on our YouTube Channel!

Call To Worship: How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place

Leader: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
People: Our souls long, yes faint for the courts of the Lord; our hearts and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Leader: Who is like you, O Lord, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
People: It is good to be near God; make the Lord God our refuge and tell of all His works.

Leader: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
All: Blessed be His glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen and Amen!

Classic Prayer: Clement of Rome

We beg you, Lord and Master, to be our help and aid. Save those among us who are in tribulation; have mercy on the lowly; lift up the fallen; show Yourself unto the needy; heal the ungodly; convert the wanderers of Your people; feed the hungry; release our prisoners; raise up the weak; comfort the fainthearted. Let all know that You are God alone, and Jesus Christ is your Son, and we are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture.

Confession of Faith: Psalm 23:1

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Psalm 23:1

Leader: What do we mean when we say the “Lord is our shepherd?”
People: As our shepherd, God lovingly guides, guards, and protects us. Through all of life, He leads us in the way He wants us to go; He daily walks beside us; and He waits to welcome us home when this life is over.

Leader: What do we mean when we say “We shall not want?”
People: We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for the future, we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will ever separate us from His love.

TVC Prayer Ministry

TVC Ministry: Sunday School Classes
Vocation: Mental Health Professionals
TVC Mission Highlight: Safe Haven Family Shelter
Praying for the Persecuted Church: Myanmar (Burma)

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