The God Who Saves 3

want to pick up this morning again where
we left off last week the God who saves
part three reading together from Acts
chapter 20 verse 7 to 12 which is the
story of Eutychus falling to his death
out the window
in the city of Troas on the first day of
the week we and remember whenever you
find we in the book of Acts it means
Luke the writer of the book of Acts is
present with Paul and his party on the
first day of the week we came together
to break bread Paul spoke to the people
and because he intended to leave the
next day kept on talking until midnight
there were many lamps in the upstairs
room where they were meeting seated in a
window was a young man named eutychus
who was sinking into a deep sleep as
Paul talked on and on when he was sound
asleep he fell to the ground from the
third storey and was picked up dead Paul
went down through himself in the young
man and put his arms around him don't be
alarmed he said he's alive then he went
upstairs again and broke bread and ate
after talking until daylight
he left the people took the young man
home alive and were greatly comforted
again Lord we're so grateful that you
are a God who saves and that even death
does not have the final answer because
Jesus has conquered death and throughout
the course of history you give us those
glimpses of that life and of that
victory so lord help us in our own lives
to believe that you care about the
places where we have died or where we
have struggled or where sin has
overtaken us help us to believe that in
Christ were more than conquerors and
then father having tasted and
experienced the first fruits of that
salvation in our own lives give us
hearts of compassion and hearts of faith
to look into the lives of those around
us who struggle like we have struggled
and sometimes still do and may we be the
hands and the feet of Jesus filled with
his spirit committed to his cause so
bless us in these moments together give
me the words that I need to share your
word help all of us to receive it lord
may we in every way both individually
and as a community there are a lot of
well last week we look together at two
of four very practical lessons that I
think we can draw from this story of
Eutychus falling out of the window and
being raised back to life by the Apostle
Paul lesson number one that we looked at
is that accidents happen and they will
happen even sometimes to God's people as
I pointed out last week when accidents
happen to God's people it
often produces a struggle of faith
whereas God could he not have stopped it
why didn't he did the devil get his lick
in was there a in our armor and so
on and and those questions persist even
when accidents are caused by human error
I told you the story last week of Keith
Greene's death not in July of 1982 he
and his two sons and friends of his and
their six children plus the pilot all
died when the aircraft they were trying
to fly in was unable to clear the
treetops crashed burned and killed
everybody on board and I mentioned the
cause as determined by investigators
later on was that the plane was
overloaded by more than 400 pounds in
the center of gravity was off by some
dimension as well
and so the cause of the crash was ruled
as pilot error but it was a combination
of errors if you think about it the
pilot was a former military pilot and in
the military the pilot is not
responsible for the load on the airplane
that is the job of the load master now
he had been trained to fly this kind of
airplane but the person who trained him
was inadequate was subsequently
decertified and so that little oversight
400 pounds overweight
caused the deaths of 12 people and
utterly altered many many lives
accidents happen
they even happen to God's people and
they often raise many questions about
God where are you
the second thing that we looked at last
week is that accidents can serve as a
backdrop for God's glory and that is
clearly the case here in this story of
Eutychus being raised from the dead
the congregation at Troas would have
never seen or experienced the power of
God over the force of death if eutychus
hadn't fallen out of the window had it
been picked up dead and hadn't been
raised back to life and you can say well
you know he should have never been
sitting in the window and the third
story and probably true but fact of the
matter is he did and God still turned it
around and used it for good and that
brings us this morning then to a third a
very practical lesson that I think that
we can draw from this story and that is
that God uses people God often uses
people to extend his saving grace and
again that's very clear in the story
that is before us
how does Eutychus come back to life well
the whole congregation rushes down to
see what has happened the Apostle Paul
goes down throws himself on the boy
we'll talk more about that later because
there's some significant there embraces
him and says his life is in him and he
raises him back from the dead now I
should tell you that there are
commentators who questioned whether the
boy was really dead maybe he was just
knocked out and Paul just discovered he
was still alive and raised him up and I
suppose that's the possibility in fact
it's a possibility that I entertained
for some time until I searched into it a
little bit more but you got to remember
here remember what I said about the
personal pronoun we who was present at
this event it was Luke what was Luke's
profession he was a physician certainly
Luke the physician would know if a
person was merely knocked out or if he
were dead
furthermore the Greek language structure
here indicates
certainly that he wasn't merely knocked
out but that he was in fact dead and he
came to life because as Paul embraced
him life from Paul flowed into the boy
restored him back to the land of the
living and there's a very important
principle here I think and that is this
while God is perfectly capable of
performing his saving acts all by
himself
he typically uses his people to mediate
his saving power in other words God can
do it by himself but he chooses to use
his people to make it happen and there's
a reason for that God has created us to
be sons and daughters when he created
Adam and Eve he created them to have
dominion over all creation God wants his
people to share in his authority and in
his power in the fall of man we lost a
lot of that and all you have to do is
watch the news clips of a hurricane
sweeping through or a tornado sweeping
through or an earthquake happening or or
a mudslide and you discover the degree
to which we have lost the authority over
creation and creation has gained its
power over us and death of course being
the ultimate demonstration of that power
but in Christ God restores that
authority to his people and so the same
spirit that came on Jesus
now comes on the church that's the
purpose of Pentecost so that God by His
Spirit through the use of spiritual
gifts can use you and me to share in the
saving acts of God that's the privilege
being the children of God I believe
that's what Jesus means in that very
highly debated verse really in John
chapter 14 verse 12 where scripture says
I tell you the truth
anyone who has faith in me will do what
I have been doing he will do even
greater things than these because I am
going to the Father anyone who was faith
in me well do what I have been doing he
will do even greater things theologians
have argued about the meaning of greater
things since those words were first
written and I don't know that anybody
fully understands or has sufficient
faith to do the things of the Jesus did
let alone the greater things but I think
the scriptures are clear that God wants
to share the saving acts the Jesus
performed by the power of His Holy
Spirit he wants to use you and me in
order to do that we are his hands and
his feet and that's what you see
happening here where Paul embraces the
lad and he raises the lad back up to
life now that's not to say we can just
willy-nilly go around laying hands on
everybody in his uncle and expect God to
step into the situation and and
demonstrate his healing power you'll
recall in the previous chapter in Acts
chapter 19 the seven sons of sceva they
were exorcists they saw the authority
the Apostle Paul had in casting out
demons they thought the name of Jesus
was a formula they could use and it
ended pretty disastrously when the
demonized man beat them up and they the
seven sons fled out of the house naked
so to speak because of how badly they
had been beat up
you see the name of Jesus and the power
of God is never just the formula it
flows out of relationship and it flows
out of an awareness of who God is and
what God is doing and getting on board
with what God is doing and that's even
how Jesus did his ministry John 5:19
very telling verse that we often don't
pay enough attention to Jesus says I
tell you the truth the son can do
nothing
get that can do nothing by himself he
can only do what he sees his father
doing because whatever the father does
the son does also whatever the father
does the son does also so here's the
picture God's at work in the world
Jesus sees where the father was working
steps into that situation and God
demonstrates his power so very quickly
now 6 practical steps that you know I
need to understand and live by if we are
to serve in some small capacity even in
some small capacity to serve as the
hands and the feet of Jesus feet of
Jesus in extending God's saving grace to
those who are so desperately in need and
has the world ever been needier than
what it is today
I mean really not only in third-world
countries but even our own society is
coming apart at the seams as we have
conflicting values and everybody
fighting for their square inch of the
turf 6 practical steps just very quickly
if you want to be used of Jesus to
extend
saving grace and power it starts by
cultivating intimacy with God John 15:5
verses you know well Jesus speaking I am
the vine you are the branches if a man
remains an older translation abides in
me and I in him he will bear much fruit
apart for me you can do nothing for
seven if you remain in me and my words
remain in you ask whatever you wish and
it will be given you power in the
kingdom is never a function of formula
as I said a few moments ago it is a
function of relationship and to abide in
Jesus is to acknowledge or sin it's to
spend time with God it's to submit to
his word it is to listen to the voice of
his spirit it is to make relationship
with God our highest priority see a lot
of people think that worshiping together
on a Sunday morning like this is just a
total waste of time you could be
sleeping in you could be you know
reading your newspaper you could be out
on the lake fishing you could be lord
knows we are but God's people know
something they know that the greatest
commandment is that you shall have no
other gods before being and that if you
are seeking first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness out of that
relationship everything else in life
flows because God's presence and power
is there for you that's why spending
time and devotion spending time and
worship spending time together is not a
waste of time it is to make us abide in
intimacy with Jesus because he's divined
Old Testament language for the planting
of the Lord oaks of righteousness that
he may be glorified
secondly we need to try to discern where
God is at work there's a very
interesting verse in John's Gospel where
Jesus says that let me see if I can find
it here for a moment my father is always
at his work to this very day and I too
am working my father is always at work
so the obvious question is what's God
working on him I mean didn't he rest on
the seventh day because his work was
complete well God is at work not only
keeping the universe running which is
probably a pretty major undertaking it's
a pretty big outfit but God's EDD work
regaining creation restoring us back
into relationship with me 2nd
Corinthians 5:19 God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself no
longer counting people's sins against
them and he gave us this wonderful
message of reconciliation the message of
reconciliation is that God created us
perfect and in relationship with him we
fell into sin were alienated from God or
subject to Satan's bondage and life in a
fallen world even at the best of times
is tough and God said instead of letting
you stew in your juices I have done
everything that needs to be done to win
you back out of this fallen world and to
bring you back here by the blood of the
Cross and the power of God's Holy Spirit
so all over the world God is at work
every moment looking for men and women
boys and girls whose hearts will turn
towards him who need to hear the message
of salvation who need to experience his
saving power and who need to become heir
of the kingdom that is to come when the
curtain falls in history God will have
his people and you and I having tasted
some of that salvation in our lives as I
said are his hands and feet and so what
God wants us to do is he wants us to
look around he wants us to look around
who is there in whose life God is at
work who is there who God is repairing
for salvation you say how in the world
will I know well there are some clues
because in order to come to salvation
there are two conditions that need to be
met there needs to be an awareness of
our need that is to say a
dissatisfaction with the status quo and
there has to be a realization that there
is nothing and nobody else in all the
universe that is going to solve my
problem somehow the answer has got to
lie with God listen to how scripture
puts it in Psalm 51 verse 17 the
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a
broken and contrite heart O God you will
not be spies and then Matthew 5 verse 3
blessed are the poor in spirit for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven God is
at work wherever there is an awareness
of need not only but where there is a
realization that all the human things
that we look to they're not going to fix
me up and that can range anywhere from
you
the addict who bottoms out and his whole
life has fallen apart to the man in the
boardroom who has reached the epitome of
his life's career and performance
and who walks away from that saying I
thought there would be more to life than
that look for people who are at the end
of themselves that's where you'll find
God because he's near to the
brokenhearted and he is close to those
or contrite in spirit
now when you experience that and see
that then you ask the Lord what is my
place in that person's life there are
some who say the need is the call and
sometimes that is true if you see
somebody who is hungry and you've got
food to give him you better give it to
him but that said there is more than
need before we step into a situation
with a message of God's saving grace
there has to be a measure of faith there
has to be an awareness of as I said a
moment ago I'm at the end of my rope
like the the woman with the issue of
blood
I have spent everything that I have on
doctors nobody can fix me maybe just
maybe if I touch the hem of His garment
I will be healed and so we need to be
sensitive and say Lord what is it that
you want me to do in that person's life
I love this passage in Luke chapter 4
the verses 25 to 27 Jesus speaking and
this is in the context of Israel's
rejection of him I assure you there were
many widows in Israel in Elijah's time
when the sky was shut for three and a
half years and there was a severe famine
throughout the land yet Elijah was not
sent to any of them but to a widow in
Zarephath in the region of Sidon and
there were many in Israel with leprosy
in the time of
the profit yet not one of them was
cleansed only nameand the Syrian what's
Jesus sayin
can't find faith in Israel but in those
Old Testament stories God's grace
produced faith in people outside of
Israel outside of the Covenant because
God is looking for hungry people
everywhere and don't ever be surprised
at where you will find it because I have
discovered over the years that some of
the most unless you know how we get we
get we get our own idea of who would
make a good Christian don't we don't you
say to yourself sometimes oh if only
that person or that person would come to
faith that would be a great testimony to
go on and we overlook the people right
in front of our noses because we look at
them and we say well you know that
hairdo that piercing that behavior that
person will never make it it don't kid
yourself you don't know you don't know
and God's grace will extend itself
sometimes to the most unlikeliest of
candidates so be alert to hunger ask the
Lord is that a person that you want me
to be involved in and if the answer to
that is yes however tentatively then the
next thing that you do is you step into
it wisely and by wisely I mean you don't
develop a Messiah Complex that says I'm
gonna fix you up I'm gonna tell you
what's wrong with you and I'm gonna tell
you what you need to do and if only you
would do what I tell you to do you have
you ever noticed and this is a besetting
sin of God's people
somebody will share a problem share a
difficulty and instead of just listening
showing empathy and compassion have you
ever noticed how ready we are to give
advice and fix people up
ever noticed that ever been on the
receiving into that I never say to
because I know the answers are but
that's not what I'm looking for right
now sometimes people just need to know
that somebody cares somebody understands
understand - that's stepping wisely into
somebody's life doesn't mean you take
over their lives your job is to empower
them to live not to disempower because
at the end of history everybody's going
to stand before the judgment seat of God
and everybody is going to have to give
account of what they have done with what
God has given them Jesus says be wise as
serpents innocent as doves then if
you've stepped into it and you are using
whatever gifts God has given you because
that determines in part what you step
into it then be sure to count the cost
and I referred earlier to an interesting
phrase in this story verse 10 of chapter
20 where Paul went down threw himself on
the young man and put his arms around
him very interesting language because it
is a close parallel to what the father
does to the prodigal son in Luke chapter
15 verse 20 of that chapter says while
he was still a long way off that is the
prodigal son now on his way back home
his father saw him and was filled with
compassion he ran to his son threw his
arms around him literally the Greek says
fell on his neck and kissed him Paul
went down
threw himself on the young man and
embraced it him the verb is most
typically used in the New Testament of
the Holy Spirit falling upon God's
people and I think it implies a level of
intimacy and an investment in that
person's life that is costly and can be
difficult I don't know if you've thought
about this but if if the boy was dead
and Paul touched a dead body what would
happen to Paul under Jewish law he would
now be ritually unclean there is a price
to pay for getting involved in people's
messes
I trust you understand that that's why
so many Christians start so ambitiously
trying to help somebody then when they
get their hands dirty and it's starting
to cost them time effort energy and
money they back off and they just
reinforce the notions of uncleanness
that makes people draw back to begin
with that's why Jesus says count the
cost count the cost means what do you
have faith for what are your gifts what
is your ability what can you and your
family step into so that long term you
can commit yourself spiritually
emotionally psychologically or
physically in a way that is redemptive
you see Paul wasn't afraid to get his
hands dirty and he wasn't afraid to
touch the boy even if he was dead
because it became an opportunity for
God's saving grace to be made manifest
ask yourself the question what am i
gifted in what am i qualified for
what am i able to do that's why it's so
important to listen to the Lord so
important to ask Lord why do you give me
faith for what do you give me love for
I've discovered in my own life you know
any size congregation the needs are
overwhelming and there is no way that
any given individual can just be there
for everybody equally all the time and
I've discovered over the years one of
the ways in which I learned that God
wants to use me in somebody's life the
first thing that he does is he gives me
love for that person and then he gives
me the gift of faith and then gives me
the gift of perseverance so that we can
walk that out in a redemptive fashion do
you know that if each of us here had one
or two other people that we were walking
with in a god-given redemptive fashion
we'd have twice the number of people
here overnight because God would be
using us and we would have the
satisfaction of being used of God
because you have those moments when you
know that you stand in the presence of
God and you have just seen God do a
miracle and that's you know the next
thing then the final practical step is
to leave the results to the Lord the
temptation of course when we step into
somebody's life is to look for results
and we ought to be looking for results
but that can also become very
counterproductive and it can become very
discouraging we've prayed for somebody
nothing seems to happen
we've invested ourselves in somebody's
life and they just turned their their
backs upon us and and and what was that
all about you know did I hear from the
Lord did did what what all the kind of
things that come up in the middle of
those kind of situations and it's very
hard to easy to beat yourself up and say
well see
can't do it not my job
here's a lesson that I learned from John
Wimber years and years ago one of the
founding fathers of the vineyard family
of churches really felt called to a
healing ministry I've told you this
story before first 10 or 12 people they
prayed for all died and after that they
had a hard time finding candidates for
prayer as you could imagine but
eventually one got better and he had a
hurry come moment where he says we
finally prevailed in this area and that
became a foundation stone for that
movement that swept many people into the
kingdom but here's the lesson that I
learned from him he says our job is to
be obedient to the Lord the Lord's job
is to bring about the fruit and the and
the healing virtue and power of God and
that is incredibly liberating not to
mention biblical here's how the Apostle
Paul puts it at 1 Corinthians 3 7 there
was a church that was picking between
Apollo's and and Paul and Cephas and
they were dividing the community into
you know this one's got it and this one
hasn't and this one was a better
preacher and this one is a better healer
and I'm gonna listen to him but I'm not
gonna listen to him puts it all in
perspective neither hew plans where he
who waters is anything but only God who
makes things grow do you think sander
van Berkel had any idea that praying for
Susan tap with her multiple sclerosis
would get healed on account of that
prayer all she could do was be obedient
to go on and in being obedient the
results beyond any
these expectations or of God
this past Monday Michelle and I were at
Planet Fitness working out and who do we
run into but Susan gap and we said I and
she's that I and she said I'm here
because I want to get my muscles back
into a better condition that is watching
the power of God at work accidents
happen to God's people God can redeem
even accidents of our own making and
stupidity God wants to use us as
vehicles of his saving power and one
final point God's saving grace provides
great comfort for God's people have you
noticed how this story ends the people
took the young man home alive and were
greatly comforted why do you think they
were greatly comforted
well no small matter to take your kid
home alive well after you know he was
dead but more than that I think I
suspect they understood that they might
never see the Apostle Paul again he was
their spiritual father he was he was the
visible manifestation of the love of
Jesus in their midst and and like little
children about to lose their daddy that
would be scary business and they were
comforted I believe because they knew
that with or without the Apostle Paul
Jesus was on his throne able to do far
more abundantly than all that the ask
could ask her think and they could face
the future with courage because they
knew Jesus was present and alive
that's why they were comforted and
that's why it is so important for God's
people to share stories of God's
redemptive power doesn't always have to
be dramatic it doesn't always have to be
you know the big story is the only story
that counts it could just be I was stuck
in a difficult situation and I cried out
to God and somebody prayed with me and
and suddenly I had clarity of thought in
mind and I knew what the next step was
that I needed to take or I was stuck in
a difficult financial situation and I
cried out to the Lord and I shared my
need with somebody and wouldn't you know
it out of nowhere came the resources of
God that enabled me to take the next
step and to discover that God is really
here
the faith doesn't just spread by
preaching preaching is important I do it
for a living I have for a good many
years I would never minimize that but
preaching alone only his power when the
preaching results in changed lives and
changed lives that can tell their
stories to each other that's why in the
Old Testament the saints of God were to
gather their families around them and
tell them repeatedly of the redemptive
and the mighty acts of God and that's
why the psalmist says what he does in
Psalms 40 the verses 1 2 & 3 he said I
waited patiently for the Lord he turned
to me and heard my cry he lifted me out
of the slimy pit out of the mud and mire
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a
firm place to stand he put a new song in
my mouth a hymn of praise to our God
many will see and fear and put their
trust in the Lord
many will see in fear and put their
trust in the Lord you know often we
think ourselves inadequate I could never
lead somebody to faith I could you know
we leave that to the professionals every
one of us has a story we could we could
take a survey of a congregation like
this and I could ask you where in your
life did you meet up with a presence of
the power of God and every last one of
you young and old will have stories that
pop into your mind where you knew that
you knew that you stood in the presence
of God isn't that your how many of those
stories have you ever shared with your
children or with your grandchildren and
I'm talking about getting on your high
horse and you know preaching high and
mighty but using a teachable moment to
demonstrate that in the good times and
in the bad times of life and you cry out
to God and you were sharing your needs
with people around you God either
stepped into that situation reversed it
powerfully and enabled you to go on
living in the land of the living or he
gave you the inner strength to take the
next step knowing that in the Lord the
journey will lead to glory
isn't that true what in this morning by
calling your attention to a little book
of poems that
Natacha Roblin of our congregation has
just published she self-published it
Natacha if you remember her profession
of faith testimony two years ago I was
raised in a very broken dysfunctional
family her parents divorced that when
she was 13 and in all her life struggled
between
being seen and not being seen and and
how the Lord brought her to faith and
then brought her to this community and
now she's been walking out that journey
trying to to roll back those years of
pain and coming into the freedom that
the Lord has for her and so she's a
poetess isn't the right word poet s poet
she's a poet and this little booklet is
full of a number of her poets poll poems
and we're making that available to you
for a suggested donation of $15 to help
support her publication and it's it's
her version of the songs some of them
are I'm up here some of them are I'm
down here but they are an expression of
her journey before God and it would be
tremendously encouraging for her for us
to stand behind beside her and with her
and to support her in this journey let
me read you one poem here this one is
called explained explained
can you explain explain blue sky to the
colorblind explain Earth's Sun to the
cold ones explain free gift to those
that paid explain real love to the
broken ones explain being known to those
alone explain gentleness to the battered
Souls explain freedom to those in Chains
explain hope to those in pain explain
Christ to all that are lost explain no
you are the message and that will
explain all that remains
gonna end with an abbreviated video of
her profession of faith testimony two
years ago I'll come back up after that
and we'll close off the service watch
this I was born and raised infected and
I'm the oldest of three children I meet
human thoughts of my brother and sister
who are twins and I was raised in a
non-christian family that's a child I
felt very out of place and like I wasn't
really needed or wanted and I was
horribly and physically abused as a
child and I remember how words that over
me lingered and they stayed and they
stuck and I started to believe that my
started to believe that I really wasn't
worth anything I really wasn't someone
to be loves and it's hard thing to be
ashamed of who you are and not to be
loved for who you are and as a child
that's all you want I spent a lot of
time trying to fix myself and make
myself something it could be loved and
could be appreciated and it could be
seen and then that didn't work I kind of
hid who I really was and became quiet
and didn't really say anything because
that was easier than not being loved for
who you are
fast forward 2007 I was 20 years old
and I had come home from da fan of
college and I had a small New Testament
I got in grade five and I started
reading that and I read it for weeks and
weeks and I remember sitting out out on
out sorry I couldn't open a window and
just sat outside and was praying to God
and saying that I loved him
and that I was sorry for my sin it was
really just him and me he really just
pulled me out of all of that I mean it's
a process
I was definitely had my brokenness and
all my other things but it was him the
past four years it's been a lot of God
tenderizing my heart and calling me to
live it's been the many little choices
in the everyday choosing life choosing
to look people in choosing to be seen
and for who I am which is hard for me
and feeling all the feelings the head
fell before because when you shut down
you have to kind of go back and and live
again and feel those things you hadn't
felt before and there were times where
it was hard and I wanted to stop and
just be done and and not be alive
anymore I am thankful that I'm alive
today i thankful for jesus and i love
him with all my heart i can man stand
before you and say that i am not a ghost
i'm not a rock i am not an island I am
etosha I belong to Jesus and I belong
here
Lord we said this a lot in the last
couple of weeks but thank you that you
are the God who sings that you don't
leave us in a mess
even when often that mess is of our own
making but that you came into the world
in the person of Jesus that he took upon
himself our flesh and blood that he
threw himself on us embraced us was
willing to get dirty so that by his
poverty we might become rich thank you
for the places in our own wires where we
have experienced a lot to be sure there
are many places more than we'd like to
experience it Lord but you've not
abandoned us and I pray this morning
that in moments of despair or doubt
you'll bring to mind as you did for the
psalmist those places where you were
present and we knew that you cared and
we knew that you loved and then having
experienced that lord help us to keep
our eyes open to our children and our
grandchildren and friends and neighbors
help us to discern where you are at work
help us to hear the nudging of your Holy
Spirit give us the courage and the faith
to gently step into those situations to
pray and to speak as you lead and then
Lord give us faith to believe that in
Jesus Christ even the dead can be raised
thank you that you are our God and our
Father and may this church be filled
with a compassion of Jesus and the
courage and the faith to say as Valerie
says so often nothing is bigger
than Jesus thank you thank you thank you
you