Sermons

Details
Series: General
Date:
Additional file: 2014-10-19 Lord Is that You - Alan Yeater.pdf


S.R. Acts 26:8-20

Introduction

  1. Personal Questions:
    1. Do you believe that God has a specific will for your life and you must wait on Him to reveal that will to you?
  2. Is That You, Lord? Hearing the Voice of the Lord: A Biblical Perspective by Gary E. Gilley. (2007) [See October issue of Biblical Insights, Gary Kerr 2012]

Outline

  1. How Did God Speak to People Before Jesus?
    1. A quick survey of the Old Testament shows that in the beginning, God did indeed speak “in many ways.” “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets!” (Hebrews 1:1)
      1. Sometimes He spoke directly to the ones to whom He wanted to communicate His will. Ex. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses
    2. However, the principle means used by God to reveal His will to others before the coming of Christ was through the work of the prophets.
      1. Exodus 4:16; 7:1; and 20:1,22. The words were God’s, whether spoken personally and audibly or through the prophet, Moses, audibly or in writing.
      2. The Holy Spirit working through the inspired prophets was the means most often chosen by God to reveal His will to people prior to the coming of Jesus.
    3. Peter sums it up this way: (2 Peter 1:19-21)
  2. How Does God Speak to People Now?
    1. “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world!” (Hebrews 1:2)
    2. God “In these last days” speaks to us only through His Son.
    3. God showed this to the apostles when they saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain when He said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him”  (Matthew 17:5; Acts 3:22-24)
  3. The Role of the Apostles
    1. Jesus knew that He would leave earth and return to the Father in Heaven (John 17:15), so before that time He selected apostles.
      1. After the resurrection, He told them to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …. Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15).
      2. He also promised to be with them so that “the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Luke 10:16).
    2. When the apostles preached, then, they were speaking the words of Christ, words which ultimately came from the Father (cf. John 12:49-50; 1 Corinthians 14:37)
  4. The Work of the Holy Spirit
    1. How can we be sure that the words of the apostles were, indeed, the words of Christ?
      1. How do we know that their memories were not flawed as they attempted to remember what Jesus wanted them to speak?
      2. The answer lies in the promises made by Jesus to the apostles on the night before His crucifixion:
        1. "For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:12)
        2. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:26)
        3. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth …" (John 16:13)
    2. After Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles did as they had been instructed,  and waited in Jerusalem until "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:4; 4:8).
    3. (1 Corinthians 2:11-13)
    4. God's will for us is revealed in the New Testament, not only in the “words in red” spoken by Christ, but also in the words the Holy Spirit gave by inspiration to the apostles.
  5. The Scriptures ARE the Word of God
    1. A.Some today will insist that the Bible “contains the word of God,” or that the Bible is a record of what the apostles thought the word of God to be.
    2. B.The truth is that the Bible IS the word of God! (2 Timothy 3:167; 1 Thessalonians 2:13)
  6. God Speaks to Us Today Through the Scriptures
    1. The apostle John warns us, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God” (2 John 9).
    2. We also have the warning contained in the words of an apostle: “that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
  7. Conclusion (Acts 2:38,41; 26:17-20)