Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] If you're going back to school or you're started already, or if you're the parents of somebody who's going back to school, I'd like you to stand up for just a minute, would you? Everybody going back to school and the parents of everybody going back to school.
[00:00:26] All right, these are the people we need to pray for right here.
[00:00:39] First, I'm thanking God that I don't have to go to school this Monday.
[00:00:47] I'm gonna pray out loud. And would you pray in your heart that God would be with our kids at school and with the parents who are doing their best with kids at school? Could we pray that together?
[00:01:03] Our dear Heavenly Father, I pray for these good people.
[00:01:07] I pray that the spirit of Christ would strengthen them.
[00:01:11] I pray that you'd fill them with hope and faith and joy and love.
[00:01:18] I pray that this could be a great school year for our kids.
[00:01:21] I pray that they could have a meaningful and rich experiences. I pray that you would protect them from all evil.
[00:01:31] I pray that our kids will grow into their full potential and be a force for good in the world.
[00:01:37] And then I pray that we could be the kind of church that offers the support that these kids and families need.
[00:01:45] I pray that you would direct our way in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:01:49] Thank you.
[00:01:55] And now I have to say a sermon prayer because I don't dare try to preach to this group without a prayer.
[00:02:03] Our dear Heavenly Father, we have gathered together in your house because we are people of faith.
[00:02:12] There's something about Jesus Christ that has captured our soul.
[00:02:17] We believe that when Christ died, he died for our sins.
[00:02:22] We believe that when he arose, he gave us a living hope that because he is risen, we also will rise.
[00:02:32] We believe that there is an awesome life to be lived in Jesus Christ.
[00:02:37] And we pray for your spirit to direct us this morning.
[00:02:41] And I ask this all in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:02:47] We're studying Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost.
[00:02:52] So Peter preaches this often sermon and I've talked to you about it the last couple of weeks.
[00:03:00] And when the sermon is over, ah, Luke tells us the result.
[00:03:11] What happened when Peter preached verse 37, Acts 2, 37.
[00:03:20] And when they heard this, their hearts were cut.
[00:03:26] And they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
[00:03:35] When the people heard Peter's explanation that the Old Testament church was ending and the New Testament church was beginning, the first question that came to their mind is, all right, so what should we do if we're not doing this? The Old testament way anymore. What should we do?
[00:03:58] If we're not going to the temple and killing sheep and slinging blood all over, if we're not burning the fat off the kidneys, what are we? What do we do?
[00:04:12] It is a beautiful thing when we come with a heart of faith to say to Christ, ah, what is the next thing you want me to do?
[00:04:28] When was the last time you just quietly whispered into your heart, in your heart, you whispered to Christ, what is it that you want me to do?
[00:04:44] We have transitions in our lives.
[00:04:48] We have times when our old way of living passes away and we have to start into a new way of living.
[00:05:00] Different life changes.
[00:05:04] Many of you, in years past, you would have stood up because you had kids going to school.
[00:05:11] Well, now you're empty nesters.
[00:05:13] You're in a different phase of your life, right?
[00:05:17] We reach moments in our life where the past is passing away and we're entering into the prospects of a new future.
[00:05:28] That is a perfect time for you to say to God, what would you have me to do?
[00:05:34] Do you see?
[00:05:37] We have family transitions, we have, we have work transitions, we have life transitions.
[00:05:43] And those are perfect moments for us to say.
[00:05:47] I recognize that the old is passing away. And now I'm open to you, Lord Jesus Christ, what would you have me to do?
[00:05:58] When the people heard about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they said, what should we do?
[00:06:05] Because Christ is risen, what should we do?
[00:06:10] That's a question for every one of us. Do you believe in the resurrected Christ?
[00:06:15] And if you believe in the resurrected Christ, what does that call you to do with your life?
[00:06:23] When Peter pointed to the, pointed out to the people the great majesty of Jesus Christ, they said, what should we do?
[00:06:33] On several occasions in this sermon series, we've meditated on the majesty of Jesus Christ.
[00:06:40] A couple of weeks ago, we went with John into the throne room of Jesus Christ, where holy beings cry, holy, holy, holy. Where 24 elders bow down and worship.
[00:06:58] Where a myriad of saints and angels join in the worship because of the majesty of Jesus Christ.
[00:07:07] When you see the majesty of Jesus Christ, it is a perfect time for you to say, if Jesus Christ is really so majestic, what should I do?
[00:07:18] If I really believe in the majesty of Jesus Christ, what, What should I do?
[00:07:24] The message of the crucifixion, resurrection and exaltation of Christ pierced their hearts.
[00:07:34] Ah, I found this interesting.
[00:07:38] We pierced Christ's hands and feet, but his spirit pierces our heart.
[00:07:48] When things happen the way they are supposed to happen, the message of Jesus Christ pierces our Heart.
[00:07:58] Have you ever held. Have you ever felt the moral sting to your heart?
[00:08:07] Has there been a time in your life when your heart was pierced?
[00:08:14] When you felt the sting of the message of Jesus Christ?
[00:08:20] Has there been a time in your life when you've gone astray and the Holy Spirit has pierced your heart and you've said, I can't go on living this way.
[00:08:34] Christ has a claim on my life?
[00:08:37] You felt the moral style if you haven't felt the moral sting. Brothers and sisters, today would be a perfect time.
[00:08:48] Today would be a perfect time for you to open your heart and let the message of Jesus Christ cut you.
[00:08:58] Let the message of Jesus Christ pierce the inner part of your heart and you come to a holy moment where you say, ah.
[00:09:10] Ah.
[00:09:12] I.
[00:09:13] I'm no longer content to have a passive relationship to Christ.
[00:09:21] Ah. There's something about the message of Christ that is so compelling and so calling to me that my heart can't go on being the way it has. I. I'm ready for my heart to be recreated in the image of Jesus Christ.
[00:09:41] Brothers and sisters. Ah.
[00:09:44] Ah.
[00:09:46] The message of Christ has an intellectual component. Christianity is a thinking religion, but it is more than good thoughts.
[00:09:59] Ah.
[00:10:00] It's also a heart that has been genuinely touched by the reality of Jesus Christ.
[00:10:10] And because your heart has been touched by Christ, you love Christ in a very different way.
[00:10:18] Your relationship to him is more than just a name on a baptismal certificate.
[00:10:26] Your relationship to Christ is more than just a set of holidays that you celebrate.
[00:10:36] Your relationship to Jesus Christ has become one of the heart, where your heart honestly says, I love the Lord my God with all my heart.
[00:10:49] Do you hear this?
[00:10:52] When the message of Christ was preached on Pentecost, it was something that affected more than just their thoughts. It affected their emotional nature.
[00:11:08] And Peter answered their question. Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
[00:11:20] And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:23] For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off.
[00:11:30] Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
[00:11:37] When they asked Peter, what should we do? The very first thing he said is, you should repent.
[00:11:45] Ah.
[00:11:46] And this verb is in the imperative.
[00:11:51] When he said repent, he wasn't giving you a good suggestion. It was a command.
[00:11:58] They said, what should we do? Peter said, number one, repent.
[00:12:04] Uh, I wonder, ah.
[00:12:09] If Peter were here today and we said to Christ, what should we do?
[00:12:16] And he said to each one of us Repent.
[00:12:20] What would that look like in your life?
[00:12:24] What would that look like in your life?
[00:12:27] Ah.
[00:12:28] Can you hear this?
[00:12:30] When John the Baptist came preaching the message of repentance, listen what he said.
[00:12:37] Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.
[00:12:45] It's easy to read over, isn't it?
[00:12:47] What was he saying? Repentance is more than something you just do in your head.
[00:12:54] Repentance affects your behavior.
[00:12:59] Repentance is a.
[00:13:02] It is a changing. I believe I've shared this with you before. The word here, that's translated repentance, is metanoia, and it really means to change your thinking.
[00:13:17] Peter preached. They said, what should we do? Peter said, well, the very first thing you have to do is you have to change your thinking.
[00:13:25] Ah.
[00:13:26] It would be healthy for all of us this morning to challenge the way we have been thinking about Jesus Christ in life.
[00:13:36] It would be healthy.
[00:13:37] It would be healthy for every one of us to ask ourselves, does my life look to Christ the way Christ wants it to look?
[00:13:53] Be healthy for every one of us to ask, if I stood before Christ today, would he say, well done, good and faithful servant?
[00:14:06] Or like the seven churches in the book of Revelation, would he say, I have something that I need to say to you, church.
[00:14:21] Ah.
[00:14:22] If we stood before Christ, would he say, well done, good and faithful servant? Or might he say, you know what I've noticed? That you lost your first love.
[00:14:36] There was a time you loved me more than you do right now.
[00:14:40] There was a time you were more interested in me than you are right now.
[00:14:45] There was a time you were more dedicated to me than you are right now.
[00:14:50] If we heard the message and we stood before Christ and Christ looked at us, would we be able to show him fruit worthy of repentance?
[00:15:03] Would it be obvious to him that we have changed our mind about Christ and life and what's valuable and what's beautiful and what's important?
[00:15:16] Or would it be a little bit harder for him to separate? Ah, ah, ah.
[00:15:25] The strains of our heart because they become so entangled with all the nonsense of life.
[00:15:35] Ah.
[00:15:39] Sin becomes a problem instead of a pleasure.
[00:15:43] When I change my mind, When I'm thinking about Christ in a healthy way, one of the first things I recognize is sin becomes a problem to me and not a pleasure.
[00:15:58] When you think about your habitual sins, do you think about them as a problem, or are they still on the pleasure side of the ledger?
[00:16:14] If Christ has pierced your heart, if you have genuinely repented, the nature of sin changes.
[00:16:23] And what used to be a pleasure now becomes a problem.
[00:16:30] What we used to be able to do and not worry about it. Now our hearts say to us, what are you doing?
[00:16:40] How are you living this way?
[00:16:43] Ah.
[00:16:44] Ah. When we bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, Christ becomes our hope instead of our fear.
[00:16:55] When I am repenting the way I should, there's a change in my heart. Instead of being afraid of Christ, he becomes the source of my hope.
[00:17:09] When I repent, one of the fruits of the repentance is church becomes a joy instead of a hassle.
[00:17:19] See, Christ likes the church.
[00:17:21] Listen at this.
[00:17:23] Ah. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.
[00:17:28] When my heart is right toward Christ, I start finding that I feel about the church the way Christ feels about the church.
[00:17:37] Church.
[00:17:38] Ah.
[00:17:42] It's important for me to bring this up because Pentecost is the beginning of the empowered Church.
[00:17:49] On the day of Pentecost, Christ loved the church so much that he gave us His Spirit.
[00:17:58] He poured out his Holy Spirit upon us. The Sec. The third person of the Trinity dwells in your heart by faith because Christ loves the church.
[00:18:11] All right, Based on these three things, have you repented?
[00:18:17] Can you see in your life that sin is a problem instead of a pleasure?
[00:18:23] Can you see in your life that Christ is our hope instead of our fear?
[00:18:28] Can you see in your life that the church is a joy instead of a hassle?
[00:18:33] If you can, that's fruit worthy of repentance.
[00:18:38] If you can't see that, then you need to hear Peter say to you in a fresh way today, it's time to repent.
[00:18:48] It's time to change your mind. It's time to have a change of heart.
[00:18:54] And then Peter said, the evidence that you repented is you want to be identified with Jesus Christ. And that's what baptism is all about. He said, repent and be baptized. What is he saying? When you get baptized, you're making a public statement, I have repented and I want to be a follower of Jesus christ.
[00:19:17] After the 11 o' clock service, we're going to go stand by the pond.
[00:19:23] And how many people are getting baptized today?
[00:19:27] 15. 15.
[00:19:36] 15 people are going out into the pond.
[00:19:40] 17 people are going out into the pond. Can I hear 18? Is there a 19?
[00:19:51] And who's baptizing today?
[00:19:57] All right.
[00:19:59] Sarah and Jacob are going to go in the water and they're going to ask each one of these people, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior?
[00:20:10] And they say, yes. And then Sarah and Jacob will say, upon your profession of faith and by the authority of the Christ Church, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried in the likeness of his death, raised in the likeness of his resurrection. And we're all going to cheer.
[00:20:34] Baptism is an identity ritual.
[00:20:38] It says, I want to be identified with Christ.
[00:20:47] In a couple of weeks, this auditorium will have a bunch of people who have identity markers on the.
[00:21:00] The. The. The most beautiful and holy of them will be wearing bronze gear.
[00:21:08] The unrepentant and. And backsliders will be wearing stealers.
[00:21:19] It is a human trait that. That we like to identify with things.
[00:21:27] Kids like to have the T shirt for the university, or we like to wear things that identify us with stuff.
[00:21:40] I'm wearing my identity coat today, my white robe of righteousness.
[00:21:45] I want to be identified with the light. All right.
[00:21:49] Baptism is an identity ritual in which we say to everyone, my life has been buried with Christ in his death, and my life has been raised up with Christ in his resurrection. And I want everybody to know that I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
[00:22:10] On the day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and preaches.
[00:22:15] He says, change your mind.
[00:22:18] A new age is beginning. And he says, change your identity.
[00:22:24] Be part of the new age. The one that follows Jesus Christ, the one that loves Jesus Christ, the one that looks forward to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Do you hear this? He says, when you are baptized, you're letting go of the Old Testament church and you are identifying with the New Testament Church.
[00:22:48] Ah.
[00:22:50] And Peter said a third thing is receive forgiveness of sins, repent, be baptized, but also receive the forgiveness of sins.
[00:23:11] This is important.
[00:23:15] Every one of us carry in our memory failures from the past.
[00:23:24] We remember things that we did or didn't do, said or didn't say, and it bothers us.
[00:23:33] Unless you're a sociopath, and then you don't care. All right?
[00:23:37] But if you. If you're healthy, we have this stuff we carry around with us.
[00:23:43] Listen what Peter said.
[00:23:46] A new age has begun.
[00:23:49] And it's a new age in which we receive the forgiveness of sin.
[00:23:56] Christ says to us, ah.
[00:24:00] Ah.
[00:24:02] Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.
[00:24:06] Do you hear this?
[00:24:07] Christ says to us, ah. I forgive you.
[00:24:14] Now just live forgiven.
[00:24:17] Can you hear this church?
[00:24:19] Paul wanted to explain this to the church at Rome, and he wrote this.
[00:24:25] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?
[00:24:34] We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism unto death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we Too might walk in newness of life.
[00:24:48] Do you hear that?
[00:24:49] I have died to the life of sin that that haunts me.
[00:24:55] I have been raised up to a new kind of life.
[00:25:03] Sin doesn't rule in us. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Here it is.
[00:25:16] We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
[00:25:28] For the one who has died has been set free from sin.
[00:25:34] He's not done. Listen. He goes on now. If we have died with Christ, we believe that. That we will also live with him.
[00:25:44] We know that Christ being raised from the dead, will never again die.
[00:25:50] Death no longer has dominion over him.
[00:25:54] For the death he died. He died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God.
[00:26:01] So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
[00:26:08] Here Peter said, ah, receive the forgiveness of sin.
[00:26:14] Paul says, this is what it looks like. You consider yourself dead to the sin that you remember that haunts you and plagues you.
[00:26:26] And you consider yourself alive to Jesus Christ.
[00:26:31] Do you hear this?
[00:26:32] That which your heart holds onto, Paul said, let it go.
[00:26:39] That part of you died with Jesus Christ on the cross.
[00:26:45] That's not. That's not the defining issue of who you are. The defining issue of who you are is not the mistakes you've made. It's the life of Christ that you're living in right now. Are you here in this church?
[00:27:03] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from the dead to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under the race.
[00:27:30] Hear what Paul is saying. The Old Testament has passed away. Pentecost has happened. We're not living under that law. We're living under grace.
[00:27:40] And now in Jesus Christ. The life of Christ redefined you, not the mistakes that you have made and might make tomorrow. Are you hearing this? Receive forgiveness of sin. It's time to put down the baggage and to live a new, free and joyful life in Jesus Christ.
[00:28:06] And then Peter said, receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:28:11] He said, you saw the Holy Spirit descend on us as the Church.
[00:28:16] You heard me explain that. And now he said, you need to receive the same Holy Spirit that we received.
[00:28:25] Jesus said in John 14, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper to be with you forever.
[00:28:35] Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows Him. You know him, for he dwells with you and and will be in you. Do this.
[00:28:50] What should I do? I've heard the message of Jesus Christ. I've felt the love of God in my heart.
[00:28:57] What should I do?
[00:28:59] I should change my thinking.
[00:29:02] I should change my identity.
[00:29:06] I should receive the forgiveness of sin and I should stop doing this all by myself and receive the very same Holy Spirit that fell on the church at Pentecost and let him be the divine helper from God in my life.
[00:29:23] Every single one of you have the opportunity to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and have the divine grace of God abide with you day by day, moment by moment.
[00:29:41] The promise of the Holy Spirit is multi generational. Look at verse 39.
[00:29:46] For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off.
[00:29:56] The promise is for us.
[00:30:00] Ah.
[00:30:03] I've been thinking a lot about our church generationally.
[00:30:06] Ah.
[00:30:08] To prepare us for the future.
[00:30:10] Ah.
[00:30:11] Ah. The Holy Spirit has worked in this church in rare ways over the last 44 years.
[00:30:19] Rare ways.
[00:30:22] Things have happened that are absolutely inexplicable and can only be accounted for by the Holy Spirit being at work.
[00:30:33] Let me recount some of them for you.
[00:30:37] In the 80s, we had a little building in Parma.
[00:30:46] I think the auditorium would seat about 110 people.
[00:30:52] That would be maybe one section here.
[00:30:56] We filled it up, we did two services.
[00:31:01] We were parking cars everywhere.
[00:31:06] There was a school building that came up for sale right next to us.
[00:31:10] We tried to buy it and the guy sold it to another church.
[00:31:15] And I prayed imprecatory prayers against him.
[00:31:22] Just make it really interesting. The church that bought it owned the building that we bought for Old Brooklyn.
[00:31:32] So they sold their Old Brooklyn building in 82 and bought that school, or 86 or whatever it was. And then that building became a preschool for years.
[00:31:43] And then it came up for sale and we bought it. And there were about 200 people attending there this morning at the Old Brooklyn service.
[00:31:55] Ah, but we were out of room.
[00:31:58] We couldn't grow.
[00:32:02] Things we tried to do didn't work out.
[00:32:06] Then I got a phone call that there was a building for sale in Strongsville.
[00:32:14] And by the grace of God, we bought that building. The people who owned it defaulted and we bought that building for what the default was on the loan.
[00:32:27] Ah.
[00:32:30] And it was a miracle.
[00:32:33] It was a miracle.
[00:32:36] It had much more space.
[00:32:38] It had parking space.
[00:32:40] It was an absolute miracle.
[00:32:44] And then we grew and grew and outgrew that building.
[00:32:50] Then we rented to high school.
[00:32:53] Seven years.
[00:32:55] Some of you remember hauling our stuff over the high school every Sunday, setting everything up, taking everything down, lugging it back to the church.
[00:33:08] Then I've told the story. A miracle of miracles. We found this land.
[00:33:15] We found this land, the grace of God.
[00:33:23] And we were bidding against an international company for this land. And they thought they had us, but we had God. Amen.
[00:33:43] And then in 2006, we built this phase one.
[00:33:48] And in two years, within two years of us building this building, we doubled in attendance.
[00:33:57] Within two years, in 2018, we built phase two.
[00:34:04] Ah, I'm gonna get the dates wrong. We started West Campus 10 years ago.
[00:34:10] They're filling. They'll have 500 people there today.
[00:34:18] There are buildings coming out of the ground. You ought to drive over there. It's just a beautiful thing to see then.
[00:34:27] I can't remember how many years ago we started Old Brooklyn. And they're thriving.
[00:34:32] And we have.
[00:34:35] We have an agenda to start more campuses because the Holy Spirit has been at work in this church.
[00:34:50] Some of you sat here today.
[00:34:53] There was a time when people who knew you would say, that person will never go to church. I can't tell you how many people have said to me, doc, that person will never go to church.
[00:35:03] And here you are today.
[00:35:06] Here you are. Against all the predictions, Here you are today. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has been at work in this church.
[00:35:17] Let me tell you one more story, okay?
[00:35:20] We start taking things for granted because it's just normal for us.
[00:35:24] Do you know how unusual it is for a church to have the young people who have grown up in that church become leaders in that church.
[00:35:43] You can look at a lot of churches in northeastern Ohio, and the people who lead those churches were not discipled in Christ. In those churches.
[00:35:53] In this church, the Holy Spirit has been at work generation after generation. Our kids come to faith in Christ.
[00:36:02] They have the right experiences. They have healthy souls teaching them. Sunday by Sunday, we challenge them with the mission trip. We create opportunities for them to grow and develop.
[00:36:16] And the Holy Spirit is at work generationally preparing the next group of kids to do the work that he wants to do in their generation. The Holy Spirit has been at work in this church.
[00:36:27] But listen, it's not just for our generation.
[00:36:31] Listen to what Peter said.
[00:36:33] And for your children, the same Holy Spirit who has Been at work in this church for 44 years.
[00:36:42] He's going to be at work in this church for 444 years. If we do it right, It's not just for us. It's not just for our children. It's for all who are far off. That's the century Church plan right there.
[00:37:02] The Century Church plan comes from the day of Pentecost. God is going to work in your life. He. He's going to work in your kid's life, and he's going to keep working generation after generation after generation, because the church is God's solution to the tragedy of mankind.
[00:37:22] Ah.
[00:37:28] All right, I got too much to say here. Let's cut this off.
[00:37:34] Ah.
[00:37:35] If you remember, in Acts, chapter 2, verse 8, there's a list of the people who were listening that day.
[00:37:45] Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, Judea. All of these countries are east.
[00:37:55] Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia. All these are north.
[00:38:02] Egypt.
[00:38:04] Ah.
[00:38:06] Libya, Cyrene.
[00:38:09] All of these are south.
[00:38:12] Rome is west.
[00:38:15] On the day of Pentecost, people from the north, south, east and west became Christians.
[00:38:22] Now, please listen to this. This is going to surprise you.
[00:38:25] When they became Christians, they didn't stay in Jerusalem.
[00:38:29] They were just there to celebrate Pentecost.
[00:38:33] When they became Christians, they went home.
[00:38:37] But they didn't go home the way they came.
[00:38:40] Do you hear this?
[00:38:42] They go home.
[00:38:45] Followers of Jesus Christ.
[00:38:48] So when they went back to Parthia, Media, the Elamites, when they went back to Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, when they went home, they took the very same message that Peter had shared with them, and they started sharing it wherever they lived.
[00:39:08] Some of you heard that Paul was the first missionary. Paul wasn't the first missionary. First missionaries came from the day of Pentecost. They went home with the message of Jesus Christ.
[00:39:19] Hey, church, that's an example for us. We need to take the message of Jesus Christ wherever we go.
[00:39:26] You need to take the message of Jesus Christ home with you today. You need to take the message of Jesus Christ to work with you tomorrow. You need to take the message of Jesus Christ into your friendship.
[00:39:37] When these people experience the goodness of Jesus Christ, it changed them and they went home. Different people.
[00:39:50] Here's what I'm saying. This is the conclusion to the whole series.
[00:39:55] Let's be the church at its best.
[00:39:59] Let's share the message of the majesty and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And let's see what the Holy Spirit might do in our lifetime. In the very same way that he's acted in in generations of the Church.
[00:40:13] Our dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for Peter's message.
[00:40:19] I thank you that you have been at work in awesome ways.
[00:40:23] I thank you that you offer us our repentance and a change of thinking. I thank you that you offer us a new identity in Jesus Christ.
[00:40:32] I thank you that you offer us the forgiveness of sins.
[00:40:36] I thank you that your Holy Spirit comes to abide in us and help us and guide us in your good way. And now I pray that we could be the church, the church at its very best. In Jesus name, amen.
