From the Upper Room to the City Streets

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• From the Upper Room to the City Streets

The Enduring Promises of Pentecost Acts 3-4
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Core Values of an Empowered People

• Hungry to Learn
• Committed to Care
• Devoted to Worship
• Faithful in Prayer
• Result and the Lord added to their number
  daily those who were being saved.

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Setting the Stage

• Every day they continued to meet together in the
  temple courts.

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Acts 31-5

• One day Peter and John were going up to the
  temple at the time of prayerat three in the
  afternoon. 2 Now a man crippled from birth was
  being carried to the temple gate called
  Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from
  those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw
  Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for
  money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did
  John. Then Peter said, Look at us! 5 So the man
  gave them his attention, expecting to get
  something from them.

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(No Transcript)
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The promise of presence
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John 1416 (NIV)

• And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
  another Counselor to be with you forever
• Another one like the first

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The Promise of Power
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Acts 36-10 (NIV)

• 6 Then Peter said, Silver or gold I do not have,
  but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus
  Christ of Nazareth, walk. 7 Taking him by the
  right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the
  mans feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped
  to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with
  them into the temple courts, walking and jumping,
  and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him
  walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him
  as the same man who used to sit begging at the
  temple gate called Beautiful, and they were
  filled with wonder and amazement at what had
  happened to him.

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John 1411-14 (NIV)

• 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father
  and the Father is in me or at least believe on
  the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 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. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in
  my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the
  Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my
  name, and I will do it.

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Thomas Aquinas

• When told by Pope Innocent II, The church can no
  longer say, silver and gold have I none,
  Aquinas replied, Truly holy father, and neither
  can she say, rise up and walk.

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What is a miracle?

• Whatever appears that is difficult or unusual
  above the hope and power of them who wonder,
  (Augustine)
• An interference with Nature by supernatural
  power, (C.S. Lewis).
• Manifestations of a divine ordering of the world
  we are familiar with, and a glimpse into the
  reordering of life in the coming age.

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Where do miracles thrive?

• Where there is faith, (Mt 85-13)
• Where the gospel is advancing, (Acts 13)
• Where people need to understand God, (Mt
  91-7)
• Where believers are connected to Christ, (Jn
  154,16)
• Where believers are doing the stuff (1
  Jn 316-21)

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The Promise of witness
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Acts 311-16 (NIV)

• 11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John,
  all the people were astonished and came running
  to them in the place called Solomons Colonnade.
  12 When Peter saw this, he said to them Men of
  Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you
  stare at us as if by our own power or godliness
  we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham,
  Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has
  glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over
  to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate,
  though he had decided to let him go. 16 By faith
  in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and
  know was made strong. It is Jesus name and the
  faith that comes through him that has given this
  complete healing to him, as you can all see.

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John 1526-27 (NIV)

• When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to
  you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes
  out from the Father, he will testify about me.
  And you also must testify, for you have been with
  me from the beginning.

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The Purpose of Miracles

• Miracles are not primarily Gods idea of a
  supernatural health care plan for the church.
• Miracles are strategically placed moments when
  God gives us a tangible glimpse of His desire and
  ability to reorder and transform our world.

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The promise of opposition
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Acts 41-4 (NIV)

• The priests and the captain of the temple guard
  and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while
  they were speaking to the people. 2 They were
  greatly disturbed because the apostles were
  teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the
  resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and
  John, and because it was evening, they put them
  in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard
  the message believed, and the number of men grew
  to about five thousand.

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John 1518-20 (NIV)

• If the world hates you, keep in mind that it
  hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it
  would love you as its own. As it is, you do not
  belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of
  the world. That is why the world hates you.
  Remember the words I spoke to you No servant is
  greater than his master. If they persecuted me,
  they will persecute you also.

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Responding to Opposition

• Expect It
• Jesus said it would happen
• Have Courage
• God will be with you by the Spirit
• Be Gracious
• Gently instruct those who oppose you
• Step through the Door of Opportunity
• The Spirit will give you the words

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The promise of wisdom
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Acts 48-12 (NIV)

• 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said
  to them Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If
  we are being called to account today for an act
  of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how
  he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the
  people of Israel It is by the name of Jesus
  Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom
  God raised from the dead, that this man stands
  before you healed. 11 He is
• the stone you builders rejected,
• which has become the capstone.

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John 1613-15 (NIV)

• But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will
  guide you into all truth. He will not speak on
  his own he will speak only what he hears, and he
  will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring
  glory to me by taking from what is mine and
  making it known to you. All that belongs to the
  Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit
  will take from what is mine and make it known to
  you.

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Luke 1211-12 (NLT)

•  And when you are brought to trial in the
  synagogues and before rulers and authorities,
  dont worry about how to defend yourself or what
  to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at
  that time what needs to be said.

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Acts 413 (NIV)

• When they saw the courage of Peter and John and
  realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men,
  they were astonished and they took note that
  these men had been with Jesus.

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The hope of renewal
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Acts 423-24, 30-31 (NIV)

• 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. 24 When they
  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.
• 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform
  miraculous signs and wonders through the name of
  your holy servant Jesus. 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.