WHY ARE YOU HERE? 7-12-09am
Acts 10:33-34 “Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. 34 Then Peter opened [his] mouth,.....:”
Intro: this MUST be the number one reason people, young or old, attend church. Any other reasons given for attendance must be either a secondary contributive to the main reason, or else be a farce.
Do you know why you have attended church today? Let me suggest some to you.
1. Because you are a born again Christian who wanted to be here, who loves the Lord Jesus and you came to hear his Word and to worship Him.
2. Because you were asked to be here by a parent or friend, but if left up to you, you would not be present.
3. Because you were forced to be here with your parents or other relative who brought you.
4. Because you wanted to get out of the house and do something, but there was no place else to which you had a way to go.
5. Because you are truly seeking answers to questions about your soul, your lost and unsaved condition, the prospects of spending eternity in a place of torment instead of in heaven.
6. Because you do not want to die in a lost condition, and you are under conviction for your sins and do have a desire to be saved and you came with the anticipation that this may be the service in which God reaches down to open your heart, eyes, and ears to the way of salvation and draws you to respond to His call to repent and to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now an important question I want you to answer in your own mind. Which of these describe you?
Again hear this part of the text: Ac 10:33 “... Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.”
I. WHEN AT CHURCH THERE IS A MESSAGE ALL NEED TO HEAR.
1. There are messages for Christians who come to church to be edified in the faith. Eph 4:11-13 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
2. There are messages for the unsaved like Cornelius. He was a decent man. Acts 10:2 “[A] devout [man], and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.” You might even say he lived a cleaner life than most church members. But nevertheless, he was a lost sinner. He prayed, he feared God, he gave to the poor. But there was still something missing. Cornelius didn’t know what it was. He was religious, but LOST.
Cornelius walked in darkness until the time came when God sent him some essential information which would reconcile him before the Almighty. But first Cornelius had to send for a preacher named Peter to come explain God’s way of salvation to him. Cornelius was a seeker. Is there anyone here today who is still a lost sinner? ARE YOU SEEKING? If not, why not? Perhaps you should self examine why you are here.
Have you been urged upon by someone else that you ought to trust the Lord Jesus to save you? Have you been almost persuaded to walk the isle to acknowledge repentance over your sins and desire to trust the Savior? Have you been a procrastinator in making this most important step? Are you fearful of dying as a lost soul? Then do something about it.
Ro 10:13-17 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Again: “Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.”
II. WHEN AT CHURCH YOU MUST NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE DISTRACTED FROM HEARING THE WORD OF GOD.
Distractions are very much a part of everyday life. Paul told the church at Corinth, 1Co 7:35 “And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely (honorable), and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.”
The tiredness of our body might distract us from what’s being preached. Ac 20:9 “And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.”
Now we don’t know what it was that Paul was preaching, but we know this, Eutychus NEVER heard it!
If you can’t recall what the sermon was about when you leave here today, then you never heard it. Your eyes may have been wide open and your face directed toward the speaker, but your mind being distracted transported you somewhere else.
Have any of you been a distraction to people behind you who were trying to hear God’s word? Examples, whispering, writing notes, rifling through a song book, clipping fingernails, organizing the contents of your purse, filling out your “to do” list, etc. People do stuff like that when they are disinterested in the message. That show a lack of respect for the preacher, a lack of respect for God and a lack of respect for the reasons for being in church.
A message may not in all parts be something which addresses all of your particular needs at the moment, but if it is Bible truth, it will fill a need in your life, if not now, it will at some future time.
I like the way the Bible tells us of Paul’s immediate response to the invitation of Cornelius, we are all here to hear all things commanded thee of God, it says, “Then Peter opened his mouth and said...” That’s what preacher do! That’s our job description. It in our spiritual DNA.
What was it that God sent Peter to explain to Cornelius and his household? Outline of his essential message:
A. God is no respecter of persons, v. 34
B. Peace comes by Jesus Christ, Lord of all, v. 36
C. God anointed Jesus with power to do good, v 38
D. The Jews slew Him on the tree, v 39
E. God raised Jesus up from the dead and showed him openly to chosen witnesses, v. 40-41
F. God commanded this message be preached to people that through his name all who believe will receive remission of their sins, v 42-43.
G. They heard the word. V. 44
H. They magnified God, v. 45
G. They were commanded to be baptized in the name of the Lord. V. 48
In chapter 11, vs. 1, we learn that these gentiles had “received the word of God.” And in v. 18, that God had also “granted repentance unto life” unto them.
Do you see what happened to these people? They were seeking. They wanted to hear God’s commands. They heard them. They believed them. They received God’s word. They trusted in them. They repented. They found new life in Christ. They were baptized to identify with Christ. Their baptism was not salvation, but it followed their experience of salvation.
III. WHEN AT CHURCH THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN TAKING PART IN WHAT’S HAPPENING.
Young people, give ear to what your teachers are telling you. Show some respect for the fact they have studied and prepared to give Bible truths which, if followed, will transform your lives and make them better, truths which can give you joy, which can give you a reason to get up in the morning, which can give you the proper motivations necessary for every day life in this present evil world.
When I’ve made the rounds to take class photos during VBS I’ve seen some of you give the appearance that you were bored out of your heads.... even before the teacher began the lesson.
Listen to me, you owe your teacher respect. So sit up straight, don’t slouch, don’t whisper to your neighbor while your teacher is speaking, pay attention in case the teacher asks a question, and don’t allow the devil to cheat you out of whatever good there may happen to be in that days lesson which he or she knows will particularly help you in your life situations.
Have you ever wondered how you appear to others when you are bored?
Be an active eager attendee, not passive. Show some life, show some emotions, some interest. Be polite. Have some couth!
IV. WHEN AT CHURCH THERE IS AN INVITATION TO WHICH YOU MAY RESPOND.
People never enter this church assembly without being given an opportunity to respond to God’s call during the invitation hymn. Our church desires that all who enter these walls will come face to face with their individual needs and seek remedy for them in God our Savior, Jesus Christ, before they leave this house of God.
Friday night of our VBS there were six young people who came to trust Jesus as their Savior. They were Matthew Houp, Morgan Smith, Darion Robinson, Brittany Vanderpool, Kennedy King, and Jake Riddell.
Some of you here now ought to go ahead and move your membership to our church so you can be a real part of this body of Christ.
Why do some of you fidget when the invitation hymn is being sung? Does it put you on the spot to do something and you aren’t ready? Does this closing part of the service make you uncomfortable? If so, why does it? Perhaps it is because you know God’s will for your life, but you are NOT ready to commit yourself to the doing of it. Perhaps you still have some sinning you want to do before you get serious with God. Don’t toy with God. You will regret it. Here’s an example: 1 Ki 18:21 “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD [be] God, follow him: but if Baal, [then] follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”
After they saw God’s power at work against the false prophet os Baal, they had a change of heart, 1Ki 18:39 “And when all the people saw [it], they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he [is] the God; the LORD, he [is] the God.”
Moses saw the children of Israel involved in evil debauchery and so he challenged the Israelites to make commitment to follow God and they responded, in Ex 32:26 “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who [is] on the LORD'S side? [let him come] unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”
CONC: So why has PRBC been here for 55 years?
We are here to GLORIFY GOD and bring PRAISE TO JESUS CHRIST. Eph 3:21 “Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
We are here to spread the word of God, to teach you in Sunday School, to declare it from the pulpit, in our bulletins, to the hospitals and nursing homes, over the internet and through the postal service.
We are here to take our stand for God’s truth, for the inspiration of this holy Bible, and for God’s infallibility and sovereignty over our whole universe. We are here to shout that He is the almighty CREATOR of heaven and earth, and the ONLY TRUE GOD and JESUS CHRIST is His only begotten Son.
We are here to encourage and to watch for your souls as those who must give account to God. So if we plead with you to attend church every time our doors are open, please understand that this is why. If we beg you to join us for the Sunday School time, please understand why we believe you should come. It is because we must give account one day if we do not aggressively enlist you in all that we believe God wants our church to do. We don’t need “part time” members. Your full help is needed if we are to do an acceptable job for Jesus.
We are here to edify the church body, to grow you up in Christ. We are here to fight your battles with you, and to comfort you in your storms, crises and distresses. We are here to be available to you in the time of need. We are here to help ready you to take that walk through the valley of the shadow of death when it calls for you that you might fear no evil. We are here to prepare you for that journey from earth to glory.
We are here to equip you to fight the good fight of the faith and to earnestly contend for it. We are here to cooperatively carry out the great commission of our Lord to go into all the world with the gospel of His matchless grace.
We are here because God put us here to do His work, and let us NEVER FORGET IT.
The household of Cornelius heard what God sent Paul to say. And now, you have heard what God sent me to say. It is up to you to respond in a positive way to the will of the Lord. Are you ready to do it?