Sermons from Sweet Home

Acts 3:11-26 Gospel in the Temple

The healing of the man born paralyzed drew a crowd together in the Temple courts which produced the opportunity for Peter to proclaim the Gospel in the heart of  Jewish religious life. This was surely orchestrated by God. 
Peter does his job well by declaring the story of Jesus to be founded upon eye-witness testimony and supported by Scripture. And ofcourse Peter says it as it is, "you guys need to repent". If you do that "revival will happen". 

Dancing with Devils

Someone once said, "you can't keep dancing with the devil and wondering why you're in hell". There might be some truth to it. Evil spiritual beings surround us, work with us, and even work within us, and we don't seem to have a problem with it. Not because we don't care, but because we are unaware.
In this talk, two key ways we tend to dance with demons are explored. From the earliest ages people have "worshipped demons". They thought they were worshipping gods by bowing down to inanimate matter, but the text says they were actually worshipping demons. Now we don't bow down to idols often, but do we sometimes come close to actually worshipping demons?
It is also true that we often "welcome demons". This happens in a variety of ways when we believe lies, have unregulated inner turmoil, grieve the Holy Spirit or consult mediums and fortune tellers. 

Roaring Lions Need to be Resisted

Although the apostle Paul calls Satan the "ruler of the kingdom of the air" and Jesus calls him the "ruler of this world" we, meek and mild Christians, can actually resist this evil king. We don't fight Satan, and we don't take flight from him, we resist him. 
But how do we do that? How do we stand our ground against Satan? James was a very practical writer and thinker, and he tells us pretty neatly how to do this: submit to God, humble yourself before Him, draw near to Him, wash your hands from sin and purify your heart.
One thing is very clear, we resist Satan with the presence of God. Make not mistake, Satan is not scared of us. There is only one person he fears. You know who that is? Yes, God himself. The more He is present in our lives, the less Satan can have any power in harming us. 

Acts 3:1-10 ”Look at Us”

In the text under discussion Luke tells us about a lame beggar sitting by the beautiful gate at the entrance to the Temple. He used to sit there begging from those who went to the afternoon prayer. Why did he sit there? How did he get there?
Well Peter and John went to pray and Peter healed him. This great miracle ignited a great unsettlement in Jerusalem, because nobody could deny the miracle. But how did God use this miracle, where did it lead Peter? How did it advance the Gospel?
This is a powerful and spiritually loaded story that teaches us numerous lessons about beggars, the true help that people need, and also about how God works in us and trough us to advance an agenda that is bigger than our own individual lives. 

Acts 2:42-47 The Life of the Original Church

The five verses under discussion here were jotted down by Luke to paint a word-picture of how the first and unadulterated church operated. We can see clearly what the church was devoted to, how they felt, how the treated each other and what the results were of being such a church.  
It is unfortunately a sad truth that most contemporary churches today do not experience the same type of life and love as the original church. This passage is always a very good "calibration tool" for the contemporary church to evaluate how it is operating as the bride of Christ.
The Jerusalem church was growing, respected by outsiders, deeply in love with each other to the extent that they shred their possessions, were one in heart, were overwhelmed with joy and carried no fear. Christy was their king. The big question is this: How can we be more like the Jerusalem church today?

Easter Sermon: A God who does what other gods can only imagine.

Various ancient myths related to pagan gods are quite similar to the story of Jesus. Mithra, the Iranian god, was said to have been crucified and resurrected after three days. The story of Mithra was in circulation hundreds of years before Jesus was born. How do we make sense of this? Is the story of Jesus and His resurrection just a similar myth? Or....
Did Jesus potentially fulfill the myths created by men in previous generations to prove to the world once and for all who the real God was? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the reason, and only reason why Christianity exists. Christianity is not some random belief, it is a belief based on historical fact, the fact of an empty tomb.
In this talk you will hear that Jesus was crucified because he promised to be resurrected. Many have tried to provide alternative theories to explain the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances. But nothing suffices. Jesus did rise from the grave, and proved through the resurrection that he is God, because everyone from every pagan religion that was ever created knows that only "gods can raise the dead". 

Acts 2:37-41 Peter Unlocks the Kingdom

In this text we see the conclusion of the first Gospel sermon ever preached. In a neat and forward way Peter tells the onlookers on the streets of Jerusalem that they had killed Jesus. How do they respond?
Well, they respond better than we do sometimes. They placed what Peter said "in their hearts". It touched them. They moved the message of Peter from Head to Heart and then asked: "What shall we do?" Their repentance was pure because they wanted to do the right thing.
And then Peter tell stem what to do. And it is pretty simple. It makes one wonder why so many Christians and churches no longer just preach it the same way as Peter did. Tune in to find out how Peter unlocked the Kingdom of God with his message of salvation. 

Seeing he Unseen: The Worst Temptation: A Trial

When we hear the word "temptation" we generally think it has something to do with pleasure. But Satan doesn't always tempt us with pleasure in order to sin, very often he tempts us with pain to reject and resist God. 
In this talk we look at the famous story of Job and see in what way Satan caused pain to Job in order to get him to "curse God and die". Satan still uses the same things today: Money & possessions, death and disease.  
We also see in this story the tools that Satan uses to accomplish pain in our lives. He can use nature, evil people...and yes, even good people to cause us hurt which in turn could cause us to doubt God. 

Acts 2:14-36 Peter: ”Let Me Explain”

The text under view here is simply Peter's sermon delivered to the people on the streets of Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. He explains to them what is happening with the speaking in tongues, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the events that lead up to this point.
In a nutshell he is explaining to the people, "you have killed Jesus, say you are sorry". Peter draws from ancient Psalms and eye witness testimony to show that what has transpired in Jerusalem with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is not "fake news" but the truth that was prophesied about and witnessed. 

Cave Syndrome

There is a growing trend to be reclusive, live in isolation, avoid people. There are various reasons for this behavior, but it is not a good thing, especially for Christians. The trend seeks to separate people, instead of drawing people closer to each other. Society is getting cold, and if we are not careful the church will get cold too.
Jesus said: There will be so much more evil in the world that the love of most believers will grow cold (Matt. 24:12). If Christians avoid each other, don't eat meals together, don't care to visit one another, it is a sure sign that there is no love there. For some this type of behavior borders on spiritual death. 
In this talk the question is asked: Is reclusiveness a Godly attribute? The word recluse appears once in the Bible, what does the verse it contains say? Do we need each other? Does separation from people glorify God? Does God want us to be isolated or does this come from Satan?