Sermon Feb 25 2001 Jay Schmidt God Can Open Your Heart to Study NIV Acts 16:13-15 13. On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us. If this woman was moving Paul's heart, you know she was crankin' in her faith. The brothers weren't afraid to share with women here. We can�t be afraid to do the same. Definition of Open: Having no protecting or concealing cover - unrestricted, unhampered by restrictions, free of prejudice, receptive to new ideas. 1) You Can Handle the Truth God opened Lydia�s heart, and she responded to the message. It is our response that makes the difference. She accepted what Paul was saying. Many of us don't accept what the Bible has to say about our lives. Sometimes we know something is true but we're just not ready to accept it. We hate being wrong. Even when we are wrong, we are reluctant to admit it. This is PRIDE. NIV Mark 4:20 20. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." One of the evidences of what kind of seed we are is by our harvest. Do I really accept the Word?? NIV Acts 2:41 41. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. There were more than 3000 people there that day. But only 3000 accepted the message and were baptized. NIV Acts 2:40 40. With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Sin has enslaved us. Save yourself! Save others. Be willing to admit your sin. Speak the truth. Do you accept the message? You can�t ask for it to be made easier just for you. Do you accept the Word as it is?? We're not accepting the word of God as it is written in the Bible. We want the easy way out. We want to read a Bible that doesn't challenge us. NIV James 1:19-21 19. My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20. for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. There is no other way. We squirm, manipulate, and worm our way around the truth, but at the end of the day, the Bible still stands. What is in your life that doesn't allow you to desire to read your Bible? Secret sin, discouragement, fear, suspicions, doubt? These things prevent us from accepting God's word. Until we peel away the layers of selfishness, anger, and hurt, the Bible will only be a book. It will not penetrate us to the point of dividing joints and marrow. Instead of accepting the Word, we make excuses - I'm not smart enough, sharp enough, etc. 2) Can You Handle the Consequences Until you accept 100% responsibility for your life (and therefore your sin), God's word will not affect you. When you go before God, he will not accept excuses that �so and so did this to me...� So why do we act in a way that blames others for our life? When people do accept the truth, they gain courage and faith to stand up to the challenges in their lives. One only has to look at the American Revolution for that. They had courage and faith to stand up for what they believed. They felt good because they made drastic changes in their lives, and sacrificed for those changes. It can�t stop there, however. Once we do change, we have a tendency to get get leisurely about it. Then we get complacent. We begin to seek only our pleasure, that originally came from change. Then we get into apathy. Now all we want is to care about ourselves. Then you get into bitterness because we feel entitled to comfort. We expect people to help us pay our bills, get to church on time, and get our jobs on straight. The only gift God assures us of is eternal life. We need to grow up and grow together. We can't evangelize the world if we're focused on our own needs. 2.3 million people in the East Bay need to hear about Christ. We need to go from strength to strength. We have to be strong Christians. Don't stop sharing the gospel, or crawl into self-pity. Paul was beaten and abused. Yet, he wasn't complaining or arguing; he was praying and singing. You want results, but you don't want to move God to do it. When you're not praying and believing - and you're putting conditions on your prayer - you don't want a relationship with God, you want a Genie. NIV Romans 6:23 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You earn a wage, and will earn death even if you are a "good" person. God by nature has nothing to do with sin. God created things perfectly, and through Adam sin has corrupted us. We're afraid of God and afraid of his word. Sin even feels better to us at times than being righteous. You can either break down and get humble to your sin or harden your heart. You so desperately want to believe, but you get rejected by someone, or something happens. We don't know how to respond to rejection. We no longer let ourselves feel the pain. The consequence of our sin is that someone will have to suffer. NIV 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. You have to first accept that the Bible is right, and not your feelings or your experiences. ALL scriptures come from God - both the challenging ones and the ones that make you feel good. The Bible we have now is the Bible they had then. NIV Acts 2:22 22. "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. You have to believe Jesus was God and the son of God. You can't even say he was a good man - if you do, then he was a liar, and couldn't have been a good man. Only Jesus could make the claim that he was God's son. Only through Christ can you be reconciled back to God. You have to have genuine, living faith. Only God can change you. You can�t do it alone. Only God can touch your innermost spirit. NIV Acts 26:19-20 19. "So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. Repentance isn't just stopping sin. If you get rid of one sin, another will creep into your life. You must replace the sin with God. You must deal with sin by changing how you live. Faith, repentance and baptism. You can't have one without the other. NIV Galatians 3:26-28 26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27. for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. NIV Isaiah 61:10 10. I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness When you're forgiven at baptism you get a robe that continually covers over our sin. We're not perfect, but we're clothed in Christ. Make a commitment to throw off the excuses, the problems, and cling to the truth. Share God with others, give your heart to them.
