"Christians are made, not born"

June 10, 2007

from Jeremiah 18:1-11 and Acts 2:36-47

"And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved" – Acts 2:47


My sermon outline:

• Reading from Acts picks up where we left off on the day of Pentecost, Peter’s speech after the people think they’re drunk. Jesus was the promised Messiah. You crucified him. God raised him. People respond: What should we do? Answer: Make a change in your life.

• Reading from Jeremiah. Jeremiah was priest and prophet in Jerusalem 400 years after King David, 600 years before Christ. The northern kingdom of Israel had been conquered by Assyrians 100 years before. Jeremiah’s message to the surviving southern kingdom: repent, turn to God, reject evil, and you’ll be restored, God’s promises of land, people, blessing with be given.

• In Book of Jeremiah God uses object lessons, such as the todays: pottery.

• What does potter tell us about God? Creates for and with purpose, for utility or beauty, takes pride in creating and in creation.

• What does clay tell us about us? We are formless on our own, able to be shaped. Created on purpose for a reason.

• God desires to enjoy us, to use us, to take pride in us.

• When we cooperate, listen as people of Acts, it brings God pleasure. Both scripture readings today have the directive to return to God, repent, and do something.

• “Christians are made, not born,” says early church father Tertullian.
Acts: Study, fellowship, prayer. Communion. Care for one another.
“What marks us in the eyes of others is our lovingkindness. ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look how they love one another.’” - Tertullian

• Imagine doing these with your neighbors. Fellowship. Study. Prayer. If you don’t, why not? What might happen? What would happen if you asked your neighbor how you might pray for them?

• Result: God is pleased, people live in goodwill, needs are met, God increases church.

Acts 2:46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

• Hymn 427: Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life


- Pastor Kerry
This Sunday: 60 in worship. Cooler this morning.