Sermons Preached In Moody Texas

Moody First United Methodist Church

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them…Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

In the early 70’s, I worked with Dr. James Bynum. Jim had been a pilot in the Army. He had actually served two separate tours of duty, one for four years and one for five years. He flew both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. That’s Army talk for airplanes and helicopters. At one point in his career, Jim’s duty was to fly an airplane from another base back to his army post. What made that particularly interesting was the fact that the army regulations required him to wear a parachute when flying the army plane. That meant checking out a parachute from the quartermaster and then carrying it aboard his commercial flight to the location of the plane. Jim said he got a lot of strange looks as he walked down the aisle of a commercial jet plane with a parachute tossed over his shoulder.

That would certainly get your attention if you were a passenger on that plane. The only thing worse might be the story I heard about an airline pilot, who out of courtesy to a blind passenger, took his seeing eye dog for a walk through the terminal. The story goes that passengers nearly knocked each other down trying to not only change flights but airlines.(1)

While on the subject of trying to out do another’s story, this passage from Acts, has a phrase that ALWAYS gets my attention. It reads: “and that day about three thousand persons were added.” Those 3000 were also baptized that day. Wow! Three thousand were baptized that very day.

There are a couple of things that are truly amazing about 3000 being baptized that day.

I. The first is 3000 people welcomed the message of … Peter. Peter, the one who denied even knowing Jesus some 52 days earlier. Peter, the one to whom Jesus said, “Get behind me satan.” (Matt. 16:23, Mark 8:33) Peter, the one who was always sticking his foot in his mouth. This very same Peter preached on that first Pentecost following the resurrection of Jesus and 3000 people welcomed his message. Not only did they welcome his message, they were baptized. They were saved from what Peter called a corrupt generation.

II. The other amazing thing is the shear number of people who became Christians that day. I hear that number 3000 and I want to say that is not a literal number. It is tempting to do the math. Let’s see. If a person can baptize six people per minute, that would require 500 minutes or 8 hours and 20 minutes. I guess it is physically possible. There could have been several disciples doing the baptizing. BUT 3000 in one day?

It was a special Sunday designated for joining the church. The prospective members had been contacted. During the four morning worship services there was a special effort and special invitation to become a part of that church on that Sunday. As an associate pastor, I had been “warned” about what it would be like at the end of the services. At the end of the 11:00 a.m. service they had seen the previous year 100 to 150 people walk down the aisle at one time. Sure there were four or five ministers waiting. When it finally came that time, we had about 50 people come at one time. That was overwhelming to me. But you have to remember, most of those people were transferring their membership. There were only a small fraction of those who were baptized. No were near 3000.

It is easy to say 3000 was a special case. After all those were the first converts to the Christian faith. Everyone present was a prospect. There is no question that 3000 in one day is totally unrealistic today.

Oh, I forgot about Billy Graham. Yes, in a Billy Graham crusade that lasts two or three days we might expect 3000 or more. But then we have to remember those are coming from all over a metropolitan area and will be divided among many, many churches.

Three thousand people in one day. It was indeed a great day. The Holy Spirit was moving in that crowd. The first Christian Pentecost Sunday was an amazing day. Will the likes of that ever be equaled?

In Southern California, there is a church in a place called Lake Forest. It is the Saddleback Community Church. On a typical weekend that church has 6 worship services. There are 2 on Saturday evening, 3 on Sunday morning, and 1 on Sunday evening. But this past Easter was the 23rd Easter in the life of that congregation, and they offered 11 worship services. There were a total of 31,030 people in worship two weeks ago. But the statistic that got my attention was the 2,414 people who committed their lives to Jesus Christ in that one day. That rivals the New Testament church. Two thousand four hundred and fourteen in one day. Praise God!

Did you know that since I have been here there have been a total of 7 professions of faith in both congregations combined? Seven! The past five years have been better. We averaged 8 professions of faith per year. There were eleven professions of faith at Moody-Leon in 1997. What was going on that year? Was it something significant or a coincidence of birth?

At this point you may thing I am too focused on the numbers. You may be thinking that I am comparing apples and oranges. Yes, sometimes I get too obsessed by the numbers, but the bottom line is each of those numbers represents the eternity of a soul.

Well, I have to remember your preacher is no Peter. Besides, in Peter’s day there was a real need for a savior. After all they were being saved from what Peter called a corrupt generation.

Do we need to be saved from a corrupt generation? Do all the citizens of Moody profess Jesus Christ at Lord and Messiah? Dr. Luke says in verse 36, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah…” God has made Jesus Lord and Messiah. God made Jesus the Christ. God made Jesus savior of all, and yet some choose to persecute those who believe. Some choose to live their lives contrary to his teachings. Some choose to subject our children to life styles that are not consistent with Jesus’ teachings. You can’t turn on a TV without finding a channel that portrays as acceptable actions that Jesus called sin. I tell you corruption surrounds us and there are those who need to be saved from this corrupt generation.

Why? Why would 3000 people respond on that day? Peter said 3 things to get their attention.

1. God made Jesus both Lord and Messiah. Jesus is not just any ordinary man. Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.

2. You crucified him. Sure you didn’t put him on that cross. You didn’t scourge him. But as surely as he died, your sin filled lives crucified him.

3. You can be forgiven. David didn’t think he could be forgiven of adultery and murder. Paul didn’t think he could be forgiven for persecuting Christians… BUT Peter says to those gathered on that Pentecost Sunday you can be forgiven for even the murder of God’s Christ! All you have to do is repent. Turn from your sin filled ways. Just say, No, to sin.

Peter promised this forgiveness to all, to everyone that the Lord God calls to him. Peter did more than promise. Peter used many arguments. Peter exhorted them. He warned them. He pleaded with them. He appealed to them. He urged them. Peter admonished , reproved, advised and encouraged them. Peter wanted desperately for them to know that God’s grace was available to them.

Repent he said, it’s not too late. Peter was seeking desperately to get their attention. There is a real sense of urgency in his message. It had been 50 days, and it was as if the day would come that it would be too late.

How do we get their attention? Where is our sense of urgency?

1. From www.deaconsil.com

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