Upcoming Sermon: “Peter and Paul: Men of the Gospel”

(This outline is provided so that those attending Oasis Church can read ahead, pray, and prepare their hearts for the upcoming sermon.)

Text: Acts 9:19-43

Main thought: Different people with different gifts preaching one gospel – that’s how Jesus builds His Church.

Other than our Lord Jesus Christ, there are two men that stand out as the most influential, the most important figures in the New Testament, and in all of Christianity. Two apostles that Jesus used mightily as pillars in His Church – Peter and Paul.

Two very different men. Yet God used them for the spread of the gospel and the building of the church.

This sermon will consider God’s ministry through these two men as Luke records it, how God takes two people as different as Peter and Paul, (one called to the Jews, the other to the Gentiles), yet uses them both for one purpose. That gives us a picture to be able to see how God does that with us, using us for His glory and in spreading His gospel today.

I.  Saul / Paul  (Acts 9:19-31)

-Jesus miraculously saved Saul and transformed him with the gospel.

-Saul began preaching in the Jewish synagogues. He preached Jesus as “the Son of God”.

-Saul had to flee for His life several times. The church experienced a time of peace, but Saul was persecuted.

-God humbled Saul, and God used Saul. God used him to spread the gospel and grow the church.

II.  Peter  (Acts 9:32-43)

-Peter went through the countryside, performing miracles and healings in the name of Jesus.

-Many of these miracles mirrored the miracles of Jesus. They pointed to the validity of the messenger and the message, to cause others to hear the gospel and trust in Christ.

-Peter, like Paul, centered his life and ministry around Jesus as “the Son of God” (Mt. 16:16).

III.  What does this mean for us?

-God used different men for His glory. We are all different, yet God will use us to spread the gospel and see Christ’s church grow.

-Peter and Paul had very different educations and backgrounds. Yet God used them. Our past does not define us. The transforming power of the gospel does.

-Peter and Paul were important, but they were just men – sinners in need of God’s grace – just like us. God humbled them, and then He used them. God wants to do the same with us today.

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Showing Honor to the Woman

As a husband, I need to be reminded how to love and honor my wife as Scripture commands.

Recently at our “Man2Man” gathering, Pastor Rick Gamache preached a great message on husbands honoring their wives, based on 1 Peter 3:1-7.

It’s full of biblical truth spoken directly, yet with much grace. Every man should take some time to listen.

Click here to listen online.

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Saul to Paul: God’s Enemy to God’s Instrument

(This outline is provided so that those attending Oasis Church can read ahead, pray, and prepare their hearts for the upcoming sermon.)

Text: Acts 9:1-31

The Book of Acts is all about the birth of the Church, and the spread of the gospel throughout the world. And the central verse in all of Acts is 1:8. Jesus told His disciples…

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV)

With that in mind, remember significant events we have seen so far in Acts:

-Day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit poured out on the Church (2:1-47)
-Stoning of Stephen and the Church scatters under persecution (6:8 – 7:60)
-Philip the evangelist preaches to the Samaritans (8:4-25)
-Philip witnesses to the Ethiopian, and the gospel goes to the “uttermost parts of the earth” to Africa (8:26-40)

Now we get to see one more thing added to this list; one of the most significant events in Christianity – the conversion of Saul.

Main thought: Through the power of the gospel, Jesus turns His enemies into His instruments.

I. Saul: God’s enemy (Acts 9:1-9)

-Accessory to Stephen’s murder

-Persecutor of the church, headed to Damascus to arrest Christians

-On the way there, Jesus appears. Saul knocked to the ground, blinded

-Jesus speaks, “Why are you persecuting ME?”

-Paul instructed to go on to Damascus. There, Saul didn’t eat or drink for three days. In complete darkness, no food, no water, likely no sleep for 3 days. As if he were dead for 3 days. Sounds familiar.

Some application:
-Saul thought he was doing God’s work, only to find out He was God’s enemy.

-We were once enemies of God, “sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2)

-Saul thought he saw clearly, but it took Jesus blinding him before he could really see the truth.

-Before salvation is about life, it first must be about death. Saul died. And Paul was born again.

-Conversion, repentance, bearing fruit, Jesus arresting the heart

II. Paul: God’s instrument (Acts 9:10-31)

Ananias
-God instructs him to go to Saul, but Ananias is afraid of Saul.

-Jesus said, “Go”, and confirms to Saul he is chosen vessel of Jesus.

-Ananias obeys, prays for Saul, God restores Saul’s sight.

-Saul is saved and baptized.

Paul

-Begins preaching in Damascus “convincing” Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

-Goes back to Jerusalem (full circle), still reaching the Jews.

-Paul was persecuting the church, now being persecuted

-Yet the church had “peace” and was “built up” through the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit (v.31).

Some application:
-God uses the mundane and average to do the amazing and the miraculous (Ananias, average guy, scared, obeyed God and became and instrument of the gospel – indirectly affecting millions, even our lives today through Paul’s inspired writings.)

-What began as the church being persecuted, became a time of peace. In persecution or in peace, God’s gospel is not stopped.

-Jesus said that Saul was a “chosen vessel” (instrument, tool) – it’s not the tool that skilled, but it’s who is using that tool

-Will we be God’s enemy, or God’s instrument?

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This Sunday’s Sermon: “Joining God in Evangelism”

(This outline is provided so that those attending Oasis Church can read ahead, pray, and prepare their hearts for the upcoming sermon.)

Text:  Acts 8:26-40

Remember this: God alone is the one who saves, yet He calls us to join Him in this wonderful work of evangelism. Put another way: God supernaturally brings salvation through the human proclamation of the gospel. It’s God’s gospel at work through God’s people.

God made us in His image, gave us a mouth, gave us the message of the gospel, fills us with His Spirit, and uses us to spread that good news. He doesn’t need us, but He gets joy having us participate.

Question: What is God’s role, and what is our role in seeing people come to saving faith in Christ?

1. GOD SPEAKS and WE OBEY  (8:26-27)

-God gives the direction, provides the opportunity, and we follow.

-God spoke. Philip heard and obeyed.

-God still guides us today through His word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

2. GOD PROVIDES and WE TRUST (8:27-35)

-The work of evangelism causes us to trust in God’s providence.

-His sovereign ability to work all things together for His desired result.

-God sent Philip on this specific road at a specific time because there was a specific person God wanted to reach.

-God’s providence – His divine, sovereign care for us, leads us through this life.

-You are not put on this earth for you. You are here for God and His glory.

3. WE PREACH and GOD SAVES  (8:36-38)

-The Ethiopian immediately responds to what he has read in scripture and what Philip has taught him about Jesus.

-Philip listened and obeyed. But as inspiring as all that is, Philip is not the focus here. God is.

-When it comes to salvation, it is God who does it. He is the one that brings conviction.

-We are instruments in God’s hands.

-By God’s grace, let us be a people that God can use to make the gospel known and to see lives transformed in Jesus.

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