For I know I'm gonna sing! So this is Acts chapter
4, verse 20. The book of Acts is by its longer
name known as the book of the Acts of the Apostles.
And it is the early story of the young church
after Jesus has lived and died and rose again
and remained with them for 40 days and taught
them the basics of the church and got everything
started and then sent them on their way to be
witnesses to all the earth. And then there is
an incident in Acts chapter 4 where Peter and
John are on the way to the temple to worship
God. And they see a man sitting there who has
been crippled since birth. And he begs every
day at the temple those who are coming into the
temple to worship. He begs them for any coins
that they will give him. And that's how he is
sustained and has survived ever since he was
old enough to do so. And Peter and John don't
have any money. So they look at the man sitting
by the side of the temple there with what they
call the beautiful gate. And they say to the
man, Peter in particular says to the man, Silver
and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give
unto you. Get up and walk. And lo and behold,
the man who had been crippled since birth gets
up and walks. And then he's in the temple dancing
around and everybody sees it. And so, of course,
this stirs up quite a ruckus. And they begin
to talk about the name of Jesus. And the Sanhedrin
calls them in and says, What are you doing? You're
stirring up a ruckus. Causing almost a riot.
Talking about this Jesus fellow, which we all
know was killed. And then we've heard the rumors
of his coming back to life and all that. We haven't
heard from him for a while now. Now you're causing
all this trouble. Finally, they decide to tell
Peter and John not to talk about Jesus anymore.
So they have them beaten. They say, don't talk
about this Jesus anymore. This is Peter's reply.
He says, we cannot stop telling about the wonderful
things we have seen and heard after they were
beaten. They go out after that day. They go home
to the other apostles and worshipers of the young
church. And they're all praising God and thanking
God that they were allowed to be beaten like
Jesus was beaten. That's tough. That's tough
teaching to be serving Jesus and talking about
Jesus and getting beaten for doing so. I don't
want to do that, really. I don't want to go through
that. But at the same time, I can totally resonate
with this verse, which says we cannot stop telling
about the wonderful things we have seen and heard.
So we're going to try to memorize it briefly.
It's very simple. We're just going to break it
down into a couple of three pieces. And then
by the time you're done, you'll mostly have it.
Then you've got about two weeks to finish it
off by the end of June. And you will have memorized
the memory verse for the month of June. So it
starts out like this. It says we cannot stop
telling. And we'll just do that part together.
Would you say that with me one time? We cannot
stop telling. That's very easy, isn't it? And
if you got only just that, you would have almost
the meaning of the whole verse. And the second
part is about the wonderful things. So we'll
do from about to things. We'll say that together.
About the wonderful things. And now all the way
from the beginning, from we to things. We cannot
stop telling about the wonderful things. And
the last part is we have seen and heard. We'll
do that part separately. We have seen and heard.
And the whole thing then from we to heard is.
We cannot stop telling about the wonderful things
we have seen and heard. Look at that reference
there. It's Acts 420. I'll give you a little
trick on how to remember the reference. Let's
see it. We'll say it one more time. We'll take
it off the screen and we'll try it from memory.
Say it one more time. We cannot stop telling
about the wonderful things we have seen and heard.
And with it off the screen, it is... We cannot
stop telling about the wonderful things we have
seen and heard. Now here's something interesting
for the mathematicians in the room. I'll help
you remember the reference real easy. Notice
that right there, ax4. The word ax has exactly
four letters in it. A -C -T -S. four letters,
A -C -T -S, four, and then see four, and then
if you're counting down from four to zero by
even numbers, it goes four, then two, then zero.
So X has four letters in it, X, four, counting
down, two, zero. So you can remember the reference,
so when you get home, you want to look up the
verse, and you finish off memorizing it, it's
X, four, two, zero, if you're counting down.
So that's pretty easy to remember the reference.
And the verse again was, we cannot stop telling
about the wonderful things we have seen and heard.
Pretty cool, huh? Alright, well that's done.
And we're on to one more song. Praise the Lord.
Is that one that I have to do the flipping around
in? Is it? I don't know. I changed it because
you didn't want me trying the other one. The
voice is not quite ready for that next song.
Well, we're going to pray that I'm bringing it.
I think it's got the voice back. I'll do the
clicking the best I can. Father in heaven, we
thank you that in the midst of our trials, in
a difficult place, in a difficult day, in a difficult
way, in a difficult place. So we have to kind
of explain things to them. And there are many
amazing stories. And, you know, God works through
stories, not just in the Bible, but in your life,
too. You know, we were looking at that verse.
Tell about the wonderful things that God has
done. allows us to go through all kinds of situations,
but while he's doing that, he has a greater purpose
in mind. He's got something that he wants to
get through to us. You know, God cares very deeply
for us, and he's always trying to get our attention.
The problem is, we as Americans are pretty busy,
and we've got lots of things filling our heads,
and sometimes we kind of miss what God wants
to do. I just want you to look at the story of
your own life and the stories, there's many stories.
Each one of us could sit down. If I sat down
with any one of you, you could probably tell
me 30 stories from your life. Different things
that have happened, different situations. And
in some of those stories, we can find out how
God is at work. So that's why we look at the
stories of the Bible. So I'm going to pray real
quick and then let's take a look at this short,
this is a pretty short one. Lord, We come before
you and we bow down before you. We don't always
understand what's going on in our lives. And
so we have to come to you and ask, Lord, show
us what's happening. And Lord, we also thank
you that you have many stories in your word.
And we ask that if there's any part of this story
that is relevant to our lives, that you would
show it to us. That we might leave here a little
bit different than when we came. And I thank
you, Lord, for the many stories that you have
used to change my life. And I ask that you would
be at work right here today, right now. We pray
these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so
this first little part is just sort of an introduction.
So we're going to actually start right here in
the picture. were bringing their little children
to Jesus to have him touch them and bless them.
And Jesus' closest followers told the parents
not to bother him, but Jesus said to his followers,
let the little children come to me and do not
stop them. For the kingdom of God, belongs to
those who are like little children. Jesus said,
I tell you the truth, anyone who does not receive
the kingdom of God like a child will never enter
it. Well, that's interesting. Then, a little
bit later, Jesus called His 12 closest followers
together and He told them this. He said, we are
going on a journey. We're going to go to the
city of Jerusalem. And when we arrive there,
everything that the prophets said about me will
come true. I will be handed over to the soldiers.
I will be mocked. treated shamefully and spit
upon. I will be whipped and killed, but on the
third day, I will rise again. Now Jesus' followers
heard His words, but they did not understand
at all what He was saying. And so they began
their journey, and as they traveled along, they
came to a nearby town. And there, sitting beside
the road, was a blind beggar. And when he heard
the commotion of the people traveling on the
road, he asked someone what was happening. And
they said, Jesus is passing by. When the blind
man heard this, he started shouting loudly. Jesus,
descendant of David, have mercy on me. The people
who were ahead of Jesus tried to quiet him down.
But he shouted even louder, Jesus, descendant
of David, have mercy on me. Well, Jesus heard
him, and he ordered that the man be brought to
him. And when the man was brought to him, he
said, What do you want me to do for you? And
the blind man said, I want to see. Jesus said,
Alright, you can see. Your faith has healed you.
And immediately, the man was able to see, and
he followed Jesus, praising God. Everyone who
saw this praised God as well. This is a story
from God's Word. Alright, so this is kind of
like three little stories wrapped up into one.
And the stories are maybe somehow connected.
But the first story is about the parents bringing
the children to Jesus. The second story is about
this journey, and Jesus tells his followers ahead
of time what's going to happen. And then the
third story is about this blind man. So this
isn't going to be like preaching like you hear
in a church. I'm going to ask you, is that you
got to go? No. No? Okay. So as you look at the
story, what do you like about the story? Which
part of this do you like? So when I ask a question,
that means you guys need to do a little work.
So you like the part about the children, the
trip, or the blind man? What do you like about
the story? I like the part where the blind man
gets to see my mother. Amen. Where the blind
man gets to see. Because of his faith. Because
of his faith. That's pretty powerful, isn't it?
It's huge. Now, you mentioned that he has faith,
and Jesus mentioned that he has faith. Where
do you see the blind man's faith in that story?
Jesus asks him what he wants. He can say all
kinds of things, but he goes right. For the heart
of the matter, it has to be so he can see. Which
is, by the way, a huge miracle. I mean, doctors
today, if you're blind, there's not much they
can do to help you to see. Yeah. I mean, that's
a big request. So you're right. He asks for a
big thing. That was my thought. That was my right.
That was your right. Okay, well, you can take
these stories home and think about them. I got
it. All right. Glad you came today. So where
else do you see this failure? He won't keep quiet,
will he? They keep trying to quiet him down.
No, he says, Jesus, descendant of David, have
mercy on me. Why does he keep calling out for
Jesus? He knew. He knew enough about Jesus and
his past of what he had done because it had traveled
throughout. That's what he knew. He heard stories
about this guy Jesus that could heal people.
Now if you were sick and you heard about some
miraculous healer, wouldn't you do whatever you
could do to get there? I know I would. So this
guy is determined. And he can't see, so he can't
get up and walk to where Jesus is. All he can
do is make a noise. Jesus, descendant of David.
When he says descendant of David, what does that
tell us about his faith? That's an interesting
thing to say. See, the Jewish people were waiting
for a promised Savior, and that Savior was going
to come from a certain family. It was going to
come from the family of a great king named David.
And so when he's yelling out, Jesus, descendant
of David, and David lived about a thousand years
before Jesus. So they've been waiting a long
time for this promised Savior to come. And this
guy, by shouting out, Jesus, descendant of David,
he is saying, Jesus, I believe you are the one
that was promised a thousand years ago. I believe
you're Him. I believe you're the promised Messiah.
He's declaring his faith in a loud voice. It's
pretty amazing. He's saying, Jesus, you're the
one we've been waiting for. Come and help me.
So yeah, this guy's faith is all over the place.
I think that's a huge observation. How about
you ladies? What do you like about the story?
Does anybody like the part about the children?
What do you like about that? What does that tell
you about Jesus? His disciples were saying, you
know, don't bother Jesus. Don't bring your little
kids over here. He's got more important things
to do. He's an important teacher. So who did
Jesus care about? Jesus cares about everybody.
Yes. Jesus cared about even little kids. Most
people just sort of tune them out. They're doing
their thing. They're making a noise. They're
running around. They're getting into things.
How old is he? He's probably into everything,
right? So a lot of people think, oh, kids are
just a nuisance. But Jesus said, what did Jesus
say? He said, Let the little children come to
me and do not stop them. Because the kingdom
of God belongs to those who are like little children.
What makes a child a child and an adult an adult?
What's the difference between a kid and an adult?
Other than size. Time? Like been alive longer?
Okay, they've been alive longer. Yeah, that's
a good one. What makes a... Adults teach, children
learn. Yeah, that's a good one. So if you're
going to be like a child, you've got to be willing
to learn, right? And children typically love
everything. However, they're taught not to love.
They're taught the prejudices. They're taught
the hatred. Children are innocent. They're born
innocent. They're born full of love, and that's
what they do. Well, they are... You know, children...
I'm not sure all children... I'm not sure children
are born innocent, because what's the first word...
that a child learns? Well, maybe after mama and
dada, what's the next word they learn? No! They
don't just say no, they say no! You ever seen
a kid that had that look on their face? And then
the next word they learn is mine! So, no and
mine. But in the sense that they don't fully
understand right and wrong, they're not trying
to be bad, they're just... They have kind of
a wide -eyed innocence. They listen to things.
They learn. What else makes a child... A child
is dependent, right? You tell your 7 -year -old,
hey, it's time to go out. You're 7 years old
now. It's time to go out and get your own apartment.
Start paying the rent. He can't do that. He can't
do that. So Jesus is saying, if we want to come
to God and receive the kingdom of God, we've
got to be like a child. There's nobody that comes
to God and has it all together and says, God,
you owe me the kingdom of heaven. All of us.
When I get up in the morning, I praise God that
He saved me from my sins. And I need that every
single day. I don't have it all together. I'm
not some great, wise, wonderful person. If God
didn't have mercy on me, I wouldn't last ten
minutes. Think about that story in the middle.
Why is Jesus telling His followers about all
this stuff that's going to happen? We're going
to Jerusalem. Everything the prophets said about
me is going to come true. I'm going to be arrested
and handed over to the soldiers. I'm going to
be mocked. treated shamefully and spit upon.
I'm going to be whipped. I'm going to be killed.
And on the third day, I am going to rise again.
Why is He telling them all this? I think He told
them because... He needed to build our faith.
So by him knowing what was going to happen in
the future and revealing it to his disciples,
they would have kind of like a sense of entrustment
in him. When they see it actually happen, they're
going to know he's the real deal. This is the
plan. Is there anything that surprises you about
that? I mean, if you knew ahead of time that
if you went to a certain place, all this stuff
was going to happen to you, would you change
your destination? So what is this? Tell us about
Jesus. truly unselfish in His love and His devotion
for us. He wasn't shocked when He ended up on
the cross. It wasn't a surprise. It wasn't a
terrible accident. He knew exactly and precisely
what would happen. He knew that His death had
to be a sacrifice for our sins. There wasn't
any other way it could have been done. He knew
it. God had shown him what was going to happen.
And he said, this is what's going to happen and
we're going through with it. We're going ahead.
We're moving toward Jerusalem. It's not going
to be pretty. It's not going to be fun. See,
they didn't understand because up to this point,
Jesus had been pretty popular among the people.
He'd been doing all these healings and he'd done
all these good things. And so, you know, it seemed
like Jesus' popularity was quite high among the
crowds of people. Of course, the religious leaders
didn't like him. But the people loved him. You
know, you can see at the end of the story, everybody
is praising Jesus for the miracle that was done.
They were praising God, and Jesus is God. But
his disciples are like, what are you talking
about, Jesus? Things are going well. What do
you mean you're going to be arrested and beaten?
Killed. That doesn't make any sense. That didn't
make any sense to them. But Jesus is telling
them ahead of time, this is the plan. This is
why I've come. All the stuff that He tells them
that is going to happen to Him, what's the last
thing He says will happen? It's going to rise
again. Why is that important? Why do you think
that's important? It's important they were 90.
It swings back to the faith. Hang on. Hang on.
Friday's here, but Sunday's coming. God will
not be defeated. Jesus was not defeated even
by death. Nothing that we do, nothing that happens
in our lives, nothing that seems overwhelming
to us can defeat God. Is there any relationship
between the story about the children and the
story about the blind man? The blind man comes
innocent and trusting in a way. He's just taking
God at the word. Jesus is the descendant of David.
Jesus is going to heal him. He's coming like
a child. He is kind of like that little kid beside
the road. He can't do anything for himself. Jesus,
descendant of David, have mercy on me. Ironically,
he's the one that can see. He's the one that
knows who Jesus is in the whole thing. The disciples
aren't getting it. I mean, they understand some
things about Jesus, but the blind man is the
one that gets it. And then he comes to know Jesus
in a new way. I mean, even his expectations are
exceeded here. He gets complete healing. But
what does he do after the healing? He rejoices.
He says he followed Jesus, praising God. He got,
he received his sight, and he received the kingdom
of God like a little child. He's following. Now
he's following the king. If there's a kingdom
of God, there has to be a king, right? And that
king is Jesus. And now he's following the king.
His life is completely changed. He's gone from
dismal, I got nothing, I'm a blind man, whatever
little pennies people drop my way, that's all
I get for the day. And now he's following the
king of the universe. Wow. When I was about 15
years old, I had a real change. I had grown up
in a Christian family. I'd heard all these stories.
I knew all about Jesus. But something happened
when I... I turned about 15. And I didn't want
to just accept it because my parents had told
me I wanted to really know for sure if God was
real. And I looked at the Bible and I said, you
know, in the Bible, God speaks to people all
the time. He's always talking to people. He's
doing things in their lives. He's very active.
And He doesn't change. God is God. If He's real,
Could I begin to know Him? Could I begin to actually
hear His voice? Could I begin to follow Him and
understand what that means? And then I began
to think, well, what could be more important
than that? I mean, I could go to college and
have a career, and I could become a very famous
person, I could become a celebrity, but that
would be nothing compared to actually knowing
the God who created everything. You can give
me the whole world, all the fame and the power
and the money and everything in the world, and
you give it all to me, and if I had a choice
with all that stuff or actually knowing God and
knowing Him forever, which would I choose? And
I'm like, well, that's a no -brainer. If I could
actually know God, then He can do anything with
my life. for the first time, talk to God like
He was a real person and say, Lord, if you're
there, show me that you're real. And I'll tell
you, one of the first things that happened, maybe
about a year later, I was about 16, just got
my driver's license. And I grew up in the Boston
area, a lot of curvy roads and crazy drivers
and nutty stuff going on. Got to always be paying
attention. And one day I was driving through
my town and it was around a curve. There was
a service station on the right. And I was kind
of distracted looking at something over on the
left. I wasn't really paying attention. And all
of a sudden, I started involuntarily to swerve
to the left into the wrong side of the road.
It's like somebody grabbed my wheel and swerved
over to the left. And as I turned to look to
the right, I saw a car was coming flying out
of the service station right at the side of my
car. And all of a sudden, I'm just 16 years old.
I'm just a new driver. This car looks like it's
going to hit me. But fortunately, nobody was
coming on the other traffic the other way. I
swerved over to the other side, and the whole
accident was averted. I just about got T -boned.
And I'm just a 16 -year -old kid. You can imagine,
my heart's going... I'm not used to driving,
and I almost got hit. But the weird thing about
it was I didn't swerve. And I heard the Lord
say to me, did you see that? I was watching over
you. And this has been right during that time
I was asking the Lord to show me if he was real.
The first thing I remember was that God helped
me in that situation. I've actually had other
traffic accidents and God didn't. swerve my car.
God doesn't always miraculously get you out of
every scrape. But, in that case, He said, did
you notice? Were you looking? That wasn't you.
You don't have reactions that fast. You're just
a new driver. I think God wants us to actually
know Him. and go through life in a kind of a
constant conversation with Him. That may sound
wacky, it may sound bizarre, but I think it's
supposed to be normal. I think that's the way
life should be. We've got a Creator. He calls
Himself our Heavenly Father. We're His children.
We're supposed to come to Him like children.
I think He wants to hang out with us. Every minute
of every day. Kind of guide us along the path.
And if we're children and we're willing to listen,
I think that is what the kingdom of God is all
about in the world. Looking to the king, listening
to his voice, being willing to do whatever he
says, and know him. Interesting little story
here, huh? Well, that's what I've got today.
And I thank you for participating and listening.
So let's pray. And I want to pray specifically
for you that God might open your eyes. Maybe.
Maybe even give you that initial curiosity that
I had at age 15. Hey, if there really is a God,
is He out there? Do you have any Father? I want
to thank you that you are our King, but also
our Father. You call yourself Father. And I know
that sometimes our earthly fathers haven't always
treated us right. But, Lord, You are a good,
loving Father. And You're watching over us. And
I ask, Lord, that maybe today You might spark
something by these stories. Maybe we could be
like that blind guy sitting beside the road saying,
Jesus, Senate of David, have mercy on me. Would
you talk with me today? Would you show me the
right way to go? Lord Jesus, I thank you that
you are calling to us. That you want us to know
you. To live a life with you. Thank You for this
story, Lord, and we pray that You would allow
us to think about it all day. And we pray these
things in Jesus' name. Amen.