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What are we doing as a
congregation?
There is no more important work on earth than
“Constructing a Christian.”
• That’s the instruction Jesus gave.
There is no more important work on earth than
“Constructing a Christian.”
• That’s the instruction Jesus gave. “Go . . . and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20,
ESV).
Notice that Jesus doesn’t just want disciples made, but he wants
them built.
The disciples are to build up new Christians by “teaching them
to observe all” of Jesus’ instructions.
There is no more important work on earth than
“Constructing a Christian.”
• That’s the instruction Jesus gave (Mt 28:19-20).
• Prayerfully, we parents are engaged in that task.
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them
up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4, ESV).
What more important legacy could we leave our children than
building them up into mature Christians?
There is no more important work on earth than
“Constructing a Christian.”
• That’s the instruction Jesus gave (Mt 28:19-20).
• Prayerfully, we parents are engaged in that task (Eph 6:4).
• We have an obligation to build up ourselves in Christ.
“Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to
maturity” (Heb 6:1, ESV).
Paul is an example.
There is no more important work on earth than
“Constructing a Christian.”
• That’s the instruction Jesus gave (Mt 28:19-20).
• Prayerfully, we parents are engaged in that task (Eph 6:4).
• We have an obligation to build up ourselves in Christ.
“Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to
maturity” (Heb 6:1, ESV).
Paul is an example. “Saul increased all the more in strength, and
confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that
Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9:22, ESV).
Acts 8:14-17
This text does concern the bestowal of a supernatural
gift.
Luke makes it clear we can’t have this gift today.
• When the apostles heard that the Samaritans had
accepted the Gospel, they sent Peter & John to them.
Why didn’t Philip simply give them this gift?
Surely that would have been easier!
“Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the
apostles’ hands” (Acts 8:18, ESV).
Because there are no apostles today, this gift of the Spirit is not
available today.
• We don’t need to spend a lot of time on that this morning.
There are principles we can apply today.
A Construction Crew
A Construction Code
A Construction Code
v 17
The apostles “laid their hands on [the Samaritans] and
they received the Holy Spirit” (v 17, ESV).
If we wish to build successfully, we must have a code, a
blueprint. The Holy Spirit serves as the Code, Blueprint
for building new Christians.
In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit
served two main purposes.
• One: He authenticated the apostles’ message.
The gospel “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested
to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs
and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit
distributed according to his will” (Heb 2:3-4, ESV).
“If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is
convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his
heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship
God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Cor 14:24-25,
ESV).
In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit
served two main purposes.
• One: He authenticated the apostles’ message.
• Two: He enabled some men to speak directly from God.
“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to
speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given
to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of
your Father speaking through you” (Mt 10:19-20, ESV).
In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit
served two main purposes.
• One: He authenticated the apostles’ message.
• Two: He enabled some men to speak directly from God.
Mt 10:19-20.
Even some non-apostles could speak from God.
When the synagogue of the Freedmen rose up against Stephen, “they
could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was
speaking” (Acts 6:10, ESV).
In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit
served two main purposes.
• One: He authenticated the apostles’ message.
• Two: He enabled some men to speak directly from God.
Mt 10:19-20.
Even some non-apostles could speak from God.
Acts 6:10.
“In these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And
one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that
there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the
days of Claudius)” (Acts 11:27-28, ESV).
In the early church, the miraculous measure of the Spirit
served two main purposes.
Thus, the Holy Spirit provided “The Construction Code”
whereby these disciples could be built in the faith.
The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction
Code” through the Scriptures he inspired.
• The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction
Code” through the Scriptures he inspired.
• The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit. “No
prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own
interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by
the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were
carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pt 1:20-21, ESV).
The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction
Code” through the Scriptures he inspired.
• The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:20-21).
• The Scriptures establish the validity of Jesus’ message.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,
which are not written in this book; but these are written so that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:30-31, ESV).
We no longer need the miraculous measure of the Spirit, for the
Scriptures authenticate Jesus’ message.
The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction
Code” through the Scriptures he inspired.
• The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:20-21).
• The Scriptures establish the validity of Jesus’ message (Jn
20:30-31).
• Throughout the New Testament, the authors claimed to
speak from God.
“This we declare to you by a word from the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15,
ESV).
“I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you” (1 Cor
11:23, ESV).
The Holy Spirit continues to provide “A Construction
Code” through the Scriptures he inspired.
• The Scriptures do come from the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:20-21).
• The Scriptures establish the validity of Jesus’ message (Jn
20:30-31).
• Throughout the New Testament, the authors claimed to
speak from God (1 Thess 4:15; 1 Cor 11:23).
We have in Scripture the same benefit the early church
had through the miraculous measure of the Spirit.
What does this have to do with “Constructing a
Christian”?
• Faith can be greatly strengthened through the Scriptures.
• “Now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up and to give you the
inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts
20:32, ESV).
• Woodrow Wilson: “I ask every man and woman in this
audience that from this day on they will realize that part of
the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this
great Book.”
Issues far more important
than the American destiny lie
in the daily study of Scripture!
Heaven & hell hang in the balance!!
Do we spend time in Scripture
that we might grow in the
faith?
Do we help others grow in the faith
through Scripture?
A Construction Crew
vv 14-16
“Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to
them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for
them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had
not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (vv 14-16, ESV).
The apostles served as “A Construction Crew” for the
new brethren in Samaria.
• The apostles sent Peter & John to Samaria to strengthen
the brothers.
• Many are needed to strengthen new converts today.
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to
us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our
faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in
his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the
one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,
with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with
cheerfulness” (Rom 12:6-8, ESV).
• Except for prophecy, those gifts are still available &
important in the strengthening of new Christians.
• What talent do you have for construction?
Had it not been for Barnabas & the apostles, Paul may
have strayed shortly after becoming a Christian.
• “When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the
disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not
believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and
brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on
the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how
at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem,
preaching boldly in the name of the Lord” (Acts 9:26-28,
ESV).
Had it not been for Barnabas & the apostles, Paul may
have strayed shortly after becoming a Christian.
• Acts 9:26-28.
• The God of Second Chances gave that murderous thug
another opportunity.
• Barnabas & the apostles knew about the God of Second
Chances & extended a hand to Paul.
Where might the church be if it weren’t for Barnabas & the
apostles?
Yes, God would have revealed his will some other way.
But, isn’t it partially true that we know some of God’s truth
because Barnabas & the apostles extended a hand to help Paul?
How might the history of this
church be altered because
some decide to become “A
Construction Crew”?
What talents do you have to help build
others in the faith?
We can’t bestow the Spirit as the apostles did in this
text.
But, they do something each one of us can do for new
converts.
• Peter & John “came down and prayed for [the Samaritans]
that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet
fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus” (vv 15-16, ESV).
• Can we not pray for new Christians?
Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be built up in the faith.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be built up in the faith.
Eph 3:14-19.
Paul prayed a similar prayer for the Colossians.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be built up in the faith.
Eph 3:14-19.
Paul prayed a similar prayer for the Colossians. “From
the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you,
asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his
will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to
walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to
him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in
the knowledge of God” (Col 1:9-10, ESV).
Shall we pray for others to be
built in the faith?
Do you need to be constructed
into a Christian?
Have you become a Christian
& like Simon in Acts 8 have
wandered from the truth &
stand in need of prayer?
Do you need, like the
Samaritans at the beginning
of Acts 8, need to come & be
baptized?