After We Fail — Acts 1:12–26 - video Dailymotion

Medical Lake Community Church

Please enjoy this message delivered by Pastor Mark Hudson.  🔗 http://medicallake.church  #mlcc #church #churchonline

Transcript

00:00You probably remember the story of Jonah, right? The Jonah story in the Bible about Jonah.

00:05Let me just kind of just briefly talk about Jonah, you know. He was a prophet of Israel

00:10and he, God comes to him and says, hey listen, I need for you to go to a city called Nineveh

00:17and immediately his ears pop up. Wait, those are our arch enemies, the Assyrians. Yeah,

00:21yeah, I want you to go to Nineveh and I want you to preach to them that they should repent

00:25and then maybe I'll spare them. And Jonah goes, nope, I'm not doing that. And it's such a rebellion

00:36against God to the point where he gets on a boat and travels on the ocean. And you say, well,

00:42that's not a big deal. It is for a Jew. The Jews don't like the sea. The Jews in their mind,

00:48sea is equal to chaos. They don't travel on the sea very often. So here Jonah gets in a boat

00:53to travel away from the presence of the Lord. God's asking him to do something he doesn't want

01:00to do. He gets on the boat, the storm comes up and the sailors are going, man, we've never seen

01:05anything like this before. And so who's causing this problem? And then finally Jonah raises

01:11hand, man, it's me, throw me overboard. So they do that, right? They throw him overboard and he gets

01:16swallowed by that fish. And then later on he gets spit up, almost like puked up, but that's probably not

01:22the right term. Spit up on the shore. And he goes and then if he preaches, then at the very end,

01:27he's still a reluctant prophet. He still does not happy that they actually repented. But could you

01:33imagine being in the belly of the great fish? He's called for God for a mission, but he runs to the

01:40sea and he's thrown into the belly of a great fish. And the Bible says in the chapter two, he's praying

01:47in the midst of the belly of the fish. Can you imagine that? He's alive, obviously, conscience.

01:53He's praying in the middle. In fact, three days and three nights he's in the belly of the fish.

01:57Jesus said that's like his burial and his resurrection, three days, three nights. So he's three nights and

02:02three days in the belly of the fish, calls out from the belly of the fish and says this in chapter

02:06two of Jonah. He says, then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish.

02:13Then again, then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy

02:20temple. Even in the midst of this, in the middle of the belly of the fish, he's saying, I expect,

02:27I, I expect to see your holy temple, to look upon it once again. He didn't think it was out for him.

02:33Leonard Sheldrick wrote, that is the way of recovery, to look again towards his holy temple.

02:44All of us in this room have failed Jesus to one degree or another. None of us are exempt. We have

02:48all failed him in one form or another. Maybe not to the sense of Jonah, where we run away when God

02:53is telling us to do something. Or maybe not to the sense of Peter, where we deny Jesus. But all of us

02:59on one love or another, we have failed God. We have failed him. What's the way of recovery? It's

03:06to look again toward his holy temple. We feel ashamed to look up. We have so greatly transgressed

03:13and have brought upon ourselves so much shame and sorrow that we don't want to look up.

03:18But we must look again toward that throne of grace where our advocate sits at the Father's

03:24right hand to look again toward his holy temple. Somehow we get in our mind that when we fail God,

03:34it's over for us in serving him. It's as if one failure, he just throws us away and says,

03:40I'll just find someone else to do the work. That's not the case with God.

03:47We saw Peter a couple of weeks ago interacting with Jesus along the seashore and Jesus takes

03:52him aside and they're having a conversation. And three times Jesus asked him, do you love

03:56me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And three times Peter responds back. And the last time

04:00he's grieved because Lord, you know all things. It wasn't for the sake of us to know. It was

04:05for Peter's sake that he understood he really did love Jesus. He really did. He really loved

04:12Jesus. And even though he had denied him three times in one night, he knew in his heart that

04:19he really did love him. And so what did Jesus say? Tend my sheep, feed my lands, tend my

04:26sheep. I have a job for you to do, Peter. I'm not going to throw you away. You're valuable

04:32to me and I have a purpose for you in my kingdom, even though you have failed me. Here in Acts

04:39chapter one, as we continue on after the ascension we saw last week, Jesus has returned to heaven

04:44sitting at the right hand of the father. The Holy Spirit has not come yet. That will come

04:48next week when we look at the day of Pentecost. But he's at the right hand of the father and

04:53the disciples are doing what they have been asked to do and that is to wait in Jerusalem.

04:58So the restored Peter fulfills Jesus' calling for him to tend the sheep by leading the disciples

05:04in the selection of a new apostle. Yes, I failed you, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, I do love you.

05:13Okay, I've got a job for you to do. I need you to tend my sheep. Take care of my flock.

05:18Why do we think that we forfeit our chance of serving God when we fail him? Why do we think

05:25that? I think that's the enemy coming to attack us and all of us in one form or another have failed

05:30him. But why does the enemy come along and say, you're not worthy anymore? You can't be used for

05:35the kingdom at all. Just go sit around in your house and do nothing.

05:42That's not our God. He doesn't throw away his people. He comes alongside us like he did with

05:50Peter and he encourages us and he helps us to see ourselves like I had this last week. I got to see

05:56a good insight into my own heart this last week. He helps us to see ourselves. The disciples have now

06:03come back to Jerusalem and they're waiting for the promise of the Spirit. Now, here's the thing. You

06:10and I know that the Spirit comes on Pentecost. We know because we've read the story. But you have to

06:16think about it. They didn't know when the Spirit was coming. He didn't say, remember what he said?

06:20Not many days from now. That's all he says. He doesn't say, oh yeah, it'll be on Pentecost. He

06:25says, not many days from now. They don't know how long that they're going to have to wait. But

06:29they're doing what they've been asked to do. And that is waiting in Jerusalem for the promise of

06:33the Spirit. They don't know when he's going to come. So they're waiting. They're being obedient

06:37to what the Lord has asked him to do. Look with me in verse number 12. So Acts chapter 1, verse 12.

06:44So open your Bible, turn on your biblical device, whichever the case may be. And this is God's word.

06:49We want to look at it together. So verse number 12 continues. Remember, Jesus ascends. The two

06:55angels are standing there. And the guys have their, I mean, again, their mouth's open looking

06:59up into heaven. And the angel goes, why are you looking up into heaven? He's asking you to

07:04do something. Be about what you're supposed to be doing. And so they're doing it now. Verse

07:08number 12. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,

07:14a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up into the

07:19upper room where they were staying. Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas,

07:26Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus and Simon, the zealot and Judas, the son of James.

07:32Of course, Judas Iscariot is not mentioned because he has already hung himself at this point.

07:38All of these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer. So while they were waiting,

07:44they're not inactive, they're praying, looking for guidance and discernment from God, together

07:49with the women, those women that followed him all the way from Galilee and all over, women

07:53at the cross, and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. So they come off the Mount

07:59of Olives, which is east of Jerusalem. And it's always deceptive. We're from the northwest.

08:03When you say mountain, we're thinking Mount Spokane, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams. It's not

08:11like that. It's like a hill. It's not a real big place. As a matter of fact, the elevation

08:16of the Mount of Olives at the top is 2,652 feet. The elevation of this church building is 2,430 feet.

08:25It's not a high hill. As a matter of fact, on the outskirts of town, we've got that hill

08:30that used to be with the Nike side and there's cars up on the hill, that little hill. That's

08:34kind of what it's like. It's just a hill. So they come down off the hill through the

08:37Kendron Valley, back into Jerusalem, back to this upper room or to the upper room where

08:41they're praying and waiting. Luke tells us in his gospel record that they returned to

08:47Jerusalem with great joy. So it's not that they just went back. He doesn't mention it here,

08:51but he mentioned it in his gospel record that they went back with great joy. They were

08:56happy. The Lord has ascended. He's promised the spirit that would be another helper, the

09:00advocate, the one that would come alongside and be there to strengthen them and to help

09:04them. Luke 24, and they worshiped him. This is at the end before he ascended and returned

09:11to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. So they came back

09:16with great joy. God's about ready to move. He's going to do something great. This is

09:21exciting. We get to be part of it. Oh, it's not, we're not sure exactly if it's the same

09:26place where the Passover was held, but it's some upper room, a large enough to hold that

09:30we're going to find out later, 120 people. So it's larger. I mean, we have about 135 chairs

09:35here. So you can imagine it's about the size of this place up here, right here, about 120

09:40people could gather together easily in it. So an upper room, a place where the family would

09:44get together or students would study. It's an upper large area in a house. Not sure if it's

09:49same as Passover, but it's an upper room here. So the disciples remained together. They didn't

09:56disperse. Remember he told them, go back in Jerusalem and wait. So they didn't go back

10:00to Galilee. They didn't go wherever. They stayed in Jerusalem. They didn't disperse and they stayed

10:04together in the same room. Humanly speaking, thinking about it, Matthew, the tax collector

10:12was in the same room with Simon the zealot. Humanly speaking, that does not happen. Matthew

10:19was a tax collector that worked for Rome. He, in a sense, served Rome and Simon was a zealot

10:24who killed Romans. How could they be in the same room together? Well, if it were not for

10:32Jesus changing their lives, they couldn't be. I mean, how many of us are here together in

10:37this room that if it wasn't for Jesus changing our lives, we would never be together in this

10:41same room? He changes us and makes us a family like we just experienced right now, a family.

10:50Interesting, if you notice in the text here, the listing of the apostles, we're not going

10:55to go back. If you go back and you want to look at Luke's gospel, Luke here reorders the

11:00listing of the apostles. He reorders the listing of the apostles from his gospel and he places

11:05Peter, James, and John at the very first. Peter's always first in all of the, all of

11:09the listing of the apostles. But he puts Peter, James, and John. And the reason why he does

11:13that is Peter, James, and John play the most predominant role in the book of Acts. The other

11:18apostles, not so much. So he reorders his listing, making the three that are the most prominent

11:23in Acts at the very beginning of his list. So all of the disciples were centered on one

11:29important practice as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and that was prayer.

11:36They were praying. They weren't just inactively waiting, they were waiting in prayer for the

11:44Spirit of God to come. John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress said this, prayer is a shield

11:50to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan. You know, I don't know about you,

11:58I'll speak for myself, prayer is difficult. It's difficult. How do I know it's difficult?

12:06Because it's often the last thing we do, isn't it? It's the last thing we do. I mean, the

12:13weekday prayer meeting, we don't have one here. We have a prayer email list and a text messaging

12:18list, prayer chain sort of thing. We don't have an evening prayer chain, but typically

12:22churches who have evening prayer meetings, they're the least attendant of all the meetings.

12:26There's something about prayer that we're not really good at. At least I'm speaking for

12:30myself. So we have here an email prayer chain and a text message prayer chain. You say, well,

12:36how do I get on that? Not a problem. Offering plate hasn't gone by yet. Take a piece of paper.

12:41If you want to be on the email prayer list, put your email address down and say, please add

12:45me to the prayer chain on the email. Or if you'd rather do a text message, put your phone

12:48number down there. We'll get it to the people that are Sandy Roloff who's involved in this

12:52and you can be part of the prayer chain if you'd like to be part of that. So email prayer

12:55chain or a text message prayer chain. And actually when the new website comes up, there's going

13:00to be a little box that you can click on and add your prayer request. Yeah. When the new

13:03website goes online. So there's multiple ways you can be involved in prayer and then we can

13:07get better at praying. So there's center on one important practice, they're praying.

13:13So alongside the apostles were several women and they followed him. The women were so

13:17faithful. They followed him from Galilee. They were there at the crucifixion. They were

13:21there at the tomb where the men just abandoned him other than John. The ladies are all there

13:26and they're also there with Mary, the mother of Jesus. They're there and they're all praying

13:31together. If you notice in the text, it says with the women and Mary, all these with one

13:38accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother

13:43of Jesus and his brother. Notice that they were praying with Mary, not to Mary.

13:53She was part of the group and they were praying together. They were all lifting up their voices

13:57together. And this is the last reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus in the new Testament.

14:01We don't see her again. She doesn't come up anymore in the new Testament. So when he mentions

14:07the women, it's important because he wants to understand that it's both Jew and Gentile,

14:11men and women, all going to be part by faith, part of this covenant that God is going to

14:15make and he's going to do something special with all the people part of this covenant,

14:18which comes and you're going to see in the next couple of sermons. So not just the men,

14:23the women are included in this too. They're part of the worldwide mission of the kingdom

14:27of God on this earth, not just men. And then it says that Jesus's brothers were there.

14:32Uh, yeah. After the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had other children. In fact, Mark records

14:38it in Mark six is not this, the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Josie

14:45and Judas and Simon and not, and are not his sisters here with us. And they took offense

14:51at him. So after the birth of Jesus, Mary had other children. She was not a perpetual version.

14:56She had other children after the death of Jesus, after the birth of Jesus. So interestingly

15:03enough, his brothers didn't believe until after the resurrection. I mean, they grew up

15:08in the same household with him. They had to have noticed that he was different than everyone

15:12else. They had to have noticed that he was holy. Maybe they didn't like him because he

15:15was holier than thou. That's just his character. He's holy. They didn't like that. He always

15:21was obeying mom and dad when mom and dad asked him to do something and the other kids are

15:24not. I don't know, but they didn't believe until after the resurrection, which is really

15:29interesting. In fact, in first Corinthians 15, we have him mentioning James, his brother,

15:33not James, the apostle, but James, his brother. First Corinthians 15. Then he appeared to more

15:37than 500 brothers at one time. This is after his ascension. I mean, after his resurrection,

15:43500 people saw him, 500 witnesses at one time, most of whom are still alive. So we believe

15:48the eyewitnesses that he truly was alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared

15:53to James than to all the apostles. So you notice that James is not mentioned with the apostles.

15:57James was his brother. He appeared to James, his brother, the person who wrote the book of

16:02James in the New Testament. And they remained in one accord. They remained in one accord of

16:10one mind. It doesn't mean they were all thinking the exact same thing, but they were all focused

16:14on that which God had asked him to do. One accord. In union, there is strength. There is strength

16:21in union. They were united around the commands of God and his mission for the world. So they

16:26had a focus that they were all pointing their minds to as they were thinking about waiting

16:30for the promise of the Spirit, waiting for God to work in this world through the church

16:36that's about ready to be established. So they took the opportunity to remain in one accord.

16:42And that's good for us. Let's take every opportunity we have to remain in one accord to be united

16:49together. Too many things can enter into a church family that can cause divisions and factions.

16:54Let it be about our thinking that we want to keep ourselves united together in union. And to do that,

17:01though, that requires humility. I have to give up my right sometime for another. It requires

17:09forgiveness. If I've been offended, I have to forgive. Or if I've offended, I have to go and seek

17:15reconciliation. It takes a lot to stay in one accord. It just doesn't happen. We're, as I mentioned to

17:21you this week, we human beings are very selfish people. We're pride-centered. We're self-centered.

17:27It takes humility and forgiveness and reconciliation and the willingness to restore those who have

17:32failed God, even perhaps to the point of Peter failing God. So they're sitting in one accord.

17:39They're not arguing anymore who's the greatest. Remember James and John, who's the greatest in the

17:43kingdom? What about the... And Jesus had taken them aside and said, listen, that's not the way we work

17:47the kingdom here. So there's no more discussing who's the greatest among them. They're in one accord.

17:52When brothers and sisters dwell in unity, there the Lord commands the blessing. That's Psalm 133.

17:59Just three short verses. A song of ascents of David. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell

18:07in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron.

18:13He was the high priest running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls

18:19on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing of life forevermore.

18:26Being unified together, dwelling in unity. We have to, we have to make that a focus, not to let things

18:33enter in that would break us up and divide us. So now while they're waiting and praying, they're moved

18:40now by the spirit to replace Judas to complete the circle of the 12. The 12 is a very distinct group

18:47of people. Very distinct group of people. Look at verse 15. In those days, Peter stood up among the

18:55brothers. Remember, Peter's the one that denied Jesus three times. Jesus restores him. Now he's doing

19:01what Jesus is asking him to do. Take care of the flock. In those days, Peter stood up among the

19:07brothers. The company of persons wasn't all about 120. So that tells us about how many people were

19:11present. About. And said, brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke

19:18beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who would become a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

19:24So the spirit spoke in this psalm. Spirit spoke through David, inspired David.

19:28For he was numbered among us. That's Judas. And was allotted his share in this ministry. Think about

19:36it. He was called to go out and cast out demons to heal the sick, to preach the gospel. He was part

19:43of that group. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. Now this man

19:49acquired a field with a reward of his wickedness and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle

19:54and all his bowels gushed out. And they're kind of going, oh, Luke, did you have to tell me that?

19:58That's just, oh, yuck.

20:01And, and, and, and it became known and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that

20:06the field was called in their own language, that is field of blood. For it is written in the book of

20:13Psalms. May his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it and let another take his

20:20office. So the 12, the circle of 12 now needs to be completed. There are only 11. Judas has hung

20:26himself at this point. So Peter is faithful to the calling of Jesus and taking care of the flock.

20:33He is doing what he has called to do. Jesus has restored him. He's back in the ministry. He's doing

20:39what God has asked him to do. And the number 120 is significant. Remember the spirit doesn't do

20:45anything arbitrarily. 120 is an interesting number because you need 120 Jews to form a local

20:52Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a Jewish body that took care of the spiritual life of, of the, of the

20:57nation. So it took 120 people to form a new Sanhedrin. I'm not sure if that's important or not. Just an

21:03aside. Interesting. Again, the spirit doesn't do anything arbitrarily. So 120 people. And then this,

21:10then the Bible says the scriptures had to be fulfilled. They had to be fulfilled. They had

21:16to speaks about a divine necessity. In other words, when God speaks, he fulfills his promises

21:21always. If it's open, he's still yet to fulfill it. He always fulfills his promises. So this is

21:28divine necessity of fulfilling scripture. It had to be fulfilled. It had to happen. Now you say,

21:35how, how are they being guided here? Uh, the spirit hasn't come yet. He's going to come. We see

21:40next week when we look at the day of Pentecost, how are they being guided by the spirit right here?

21:45Remember before Jesus left, it says that he breathed on them, the Holy spirit. Let me read

21:50that to you in John, John 20, before he ascended to the father, Jesus said to them again, peace be with

21:56you as a father has sent me. Even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them

22:03and said to them, receive the Holy spirit. It would be like the old Testament prophets and

22:07priests and Kings who received the spirit. Now the spirit could leave at some point in this

22:12because they're not indwelt at that point, not sealed with the spirit. The spirit just comes upon

22:17them. That's what's happening. Yeah. The spirit is there giving them guidance. He's upon them.

22:21He will indwell them shortly on the day of Pentecost. He's guiding them right now.

22:28So Judas information about him, you know, it's almost one of those words, Luke. I

22:33would have been okay if you just didn't give me that information. The last time we saw Judas,

22:36he hung himself, right? He, he took the 30 pieces of silver after denying Jesus, betrayed him with

22:42a kiss. And then when he realized what he had done, he said, this was wrong. He goes back to the,

22:47to the religious leaders, throws the money back at them. They of course can't take the money

22:50because it's blood money. So they take the money and in his name by a field. That's why it says he

22:56bought a field in his name. They bought the field with the 30 pieces of silver and he goes out and he

23:00hangs himself. Well, it seems like this is a little bit different because it says he fell headlong and

23:07burst open in the middle. Does, is that a contradiction in the scriptures? No, it makes

23:11perfect sense. He hung himself on a tree of some sort with a, with a noose, right? He's hanging

23:17there. Either one or two things happen. After he died and was there in the sun exposed for a period

23:22of time, either the branch broke or the rope broke. And when it did, he fell down, hit the ground.

23:28You can imagine hot weather. Yeah, I don't know. You can get the picture. Grizzly. So the Bible

23:34doesn't contradict itself. We're just getting a little more information of what happened to Judas

23:37after he hung himself and died. He fell down and burst open. You know, when, when Peter's talking

23:44about Judas, I wonder if he's thinking about his denial. I wonder if he's thinking about, man,

23:48I denied Jesus. I mean, three times. I wonder if he's thinking about his own denial. So Judas Iscariot

23:55had separated himself from the 12 and separated, he will remain from the 12. The 69th Psalm where

24:01this passage come from is a reference made. David is making about the enemies of God's

24:06anointed, how they're treating the anointed one cruelly. So that's, he applies it now to

24:11Judas who treated the anointed one cruelly. Judas Iscariot had abandoned his position, his office

24:19by his betrayal. So he abandoned his office by his betrayal, not his death. He forfeited his place

24:27among the 12. Again, the 12 is a special group of people and we're going to find out exactly

24:32what it means to be part of the 12. But he forfeited his position among the 12, not by his death,

24:37but by his betrayal. When James, the apostle died, they didn't replace him. He didn't abandon

24:48his office. He died. So they didn't replace James, but they replaced Judas because Judas

24:53abandoned in his office. And now these 12 ones who have seen Jesus from, we're going to see

25:00right now from the baptism of John until he ascended, one was going to be chosen around that

25:05man. These 12 were eyewitnesses to all of those things. And when these 12 die out, there

25:10can be no apostolic secession because an apostolic secession means you have to be an eyewitness

25:16from the baptism of John all the way to the ascension. None of us alive right now can be

25:21an eyewitness of those things. So Peter now details, okay, who are we looking for? Who should

25:28replace Judas? God, give us a little help. We need, we need to know whom you want. So look

25:33at verse number 21. So one of the men who had accompanied us during all the time that

25:39the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John and to the day when

25:45he was taken up from us. So from the baptism of John, all the time he was ministering three,

25:50three and a half years to the ascension to be witnessed with us to his resurrection. And

25:56they put forward to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justice and Matthias. And

26:03they prayed and said, you Lord, who know the hearts of all show, which one of these two

26:09you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside

26:15to go to his own place. And they cast lots for them. And the lot fell on Matthias. And he

26:21was numbered with the 11 completing the circle of the 12 here. If you remember the 12 is important

26:29because the 12 are going in the kingdom to sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes of

26:35Israel. That's back in Luke chapter 22. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials

26:41and I assigned to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom so that you may eat and drink

26:46at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. We need

26:5112. There will be 12 now to judge the 12 tribes of Israel. These corresponded to the 12 tribes

26:59specifically and they represented the true restored Israel. These are believers, Israel, believers

27:04in the Messiah, the restored Israel. And more information, if you've seen the text, more information

27:10given to us about Joseph. We know his surname or his name. Very little about Matthias. Just very

27:17little information. We think from the text, if you didn't stop reading right there, you think, oh man,

27:21they're going to choose Joseph for sure. There's more information about him. Well, that's not what the

27:24Spirit wanted. Actually, neither one of these appear in the New Testament again. We don't see their name

27:29ever again in the New Testament. They're just not mentioned. There is a legend though that Matthias went and

27:35died by a martyr in Ethiopia. Possible. It's just a legend. We don't know for sure exactly.

27:40But the disciples turned the matter over to God by praying for divine guidance. They were trusting

27:46God to guide them. Remember, the Holy Spirit is upon them. He's giving them guidance. They're

27:52expecting God to guide them. And they followed their master. Jesus also prayed before he selected

27:58the 12 apostles. They're doing just what Jesus did. Our master prayed up on the mountain before he

28:02selected the 12. We're going to pray too and ask God to select the person whom he chooses.

28:06See, in Luke 6, in these days, he went up to the mountain to pray and all night he continued in

28:14prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named

28:20apostles. So just like their master, he's, they're going to pray and ask God to guide them. So the

28:25disciples chose the ancient custom of determining God's will by casting lots or lot casting, lot

28:32of casting. It's not about choosing a moral decision. Should I commit adultery or should

28:37not commit adultery? It's not about a moral decision. It's about two people, two people

28:42who are equally qualified. How do I know which one to choose? That's what they're saying is

28:46they're both equally qualified. How can I choose one of them? So what they did is that it wasn't

28:50like they, a ballot where you would vote. What it was, was two stones. One had Matthias's name

28:56on it and one had Joseph's name on it. They put it in some sort of container, shook it up.

28:59And the first one to come out was the one that God chose. You say, well, that seems awful

29:04arbitrary and by chance. No, no, no. This was not a chance occurrence for in the old Testament,

29:10the outcome was always seen to be determined by God in the casting of the lots. How do I know

29:18that? Proverbs 16 says that the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from

29:24the Lord. So they're saying God's going to choose by the first one that comes out. That's

29:28God's choice. This is the one that God wants. What's interesting is before the coming of

29:34the Holy Spirit, they chose to use casting lots to determine God's will. But after the

29:38coming of the Holy Spirit, you don't see them any other times casting lots to determine

29:42God's will. Why? Because they're indwelled by the Holy Spirit who can give them God's

29:46will. There's no reason for us to cast lots today. Oh, should I buy this car? Should I buy

29:52a guy car? I'll put a Ford. I'll put a Chevy in there and just, no, there's no reason.

29:56We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to guide us. If we're willing to obey God

30:01and God will reveal according to his word, his will for our lives. When we walk with

30:06him, he'll make our paths straight. That's exactly what he said in the Proverbs. Trust

30:10in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your

30:14ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. So obey him, do his will in accordance

30:21with his word. The Spirit will guide our hearts and direct us in what we're, what we're to

30:25do. It's God's prerogative to choose this, not the disciples. That's why they left it in

30:32God's hands to choose the next one. So the law determined the divine will and Matthias was

30:39numbered now with the 11 apostles. He came now into the circle of the 12 and now the 12 now

30:44are complete. Peter came to terms with his failure when he realized he really did love

30:51Jesus. He really did. He really loved him. Jesus did not cast him away after his failure,

30:57but set about to restore him, which he did. Jesus knew his plans for Peter and they were

31:03not for him to sit around and do nothing for the kingdom of God. Instead, Jesus gave him directions

31:08to take care of the sheep and Peter joyfully fulfilled his calling to watch over God's

31:14flock. To be restored, not cast away. Again, sometimes we think that when we fail, we're

31:22just kind of cast away like, like something that's, that's broken, never to be fixed ever

31:27again or just not usable whatsoever. You know, in the United States, Craig Larson tells us

31:35there's a lot of business that use millions and millions of pallets. You know, they ship on the

31:39pallets and they put the products on the pallets that goes into the trucks and the pallets. I mean,

31:43you see them all over the place that you can go places and get free pallets if you want to. They're all

31:47over the place. But after a pallet has borne heavy, sometimes crushing weights and taken abuse from

31:53truck travel and forklifts, eventually it can no longer be used. Now cracked and smashed or loose and

31:59floppy pallets are sometimes or something businesses must pay other companies to come and dispose of.

32:05It costs them money. Disposal companies burn the pallets, chew them into wood chips, or dump them

32:10in landfills. Just throw them away. But one non-profit company in New York had a better idea.

32:18It was reported in the New York Times, Big City Forest in South Bronx takes other companies' junk and

32:24turns it into treasure. The raw material of pallets is valuable hardwoods like rosewood, cherry, oak,

32:31mahogany, and maple. Big city forest workers dismantle the pallets, salvage the usable wood, and recycle it

32:38into furniture and flooring. Recycled wood chips are worth $30 a ton. But when used as flooring, the value of

32:45recycled wood is $1,200 a ton and furniture $6,000 a ton. If that is what can be done with lifeless wood, how much

32:55more can people be restored to lives of value? Like big city forest, God is in the business of

33:03restoration. He takes people that seem worthless, people broken by the weight of sin, and transform

33:08them into workers of beauty and usefulness. Do you feel like your failure has disqualified you

33:17from serving the kingdom of God? God restores us when we fail him. He doesn't throw us away, no.

33:26But gives us further direction and asks us to follow him.

33:31It's time today to say yes to God. Throw that failure away. Satan only wants to use it to keep

33:37you back from serving God and his kingdom. Throw it away. It's time to say yes to God and get back into

33:42serving his kingdom. Failure is not the end. Restoration is.

33:51Ask Peter. He knows. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you're a God that doesn't cast us away when we fail you.

34:02We have all failed you, Father, in one form or another. We've all let self rise up and direct our lives and not your

34:10spirit direct our lives. We've all done that. And we are so thankful that you do not throw us away.

34:16We're not like a piece of pallet that's discarded and thrown into a landfill. You make something valuable

34:23out of us. Not because of us, but because of who you are. You're a God who loves his children. You're a God

34:31who's actively involved in our lives. Who's speaking to us and even protecting us when being attacked by the

34:38enemy. You're a God who cares for his people. Please, Father, please, if anyone here today believes that

34:47they, because they have failed you, they are no longer able to serve you in your kingdom. Please show

34:53them otherwise that yes, you can restore and use them for your glory. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

After We Fail — Acts 1:12–26

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