For a video of this service, please click the link below . . .
SUNDAY SERVICE – April 16, A New Church, Peter’s Plea
GATHERING MUSIC (Opening Hymn)
Good morning to those present in the sanctuary and those watching online, I am Pastor Mel Nielsen, welcome to Centenary’s worship Service for Sunday, April 16, 2023. On behalf of the whole church, welcome, we are glad you’re here.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Focus Statement: Today we begin a sermon series focused on the new church. As we go through this series we will hear from these humans called to lead this new church. Today, we look at Peter’s plea for the new church.
I am thankful for Stephanie Solterman filling in today for Terri Benz who is on tour with the IC Choir.
OPENING PRAYER (In Unison)
Resurrected Messiah, we come before you from different paths: some of us certain of your joyful presence in our lives, some of us not so certain of the hope of being touched by your joy. Yet we are all here, reaching out to you: for understanding, for hope, for joy, for all that is imperishable. Meet us here, today, in all your power and consolation. Amen.
SMALL TALK
Well last week was fun with all the Easter celebrations and family get togethers. Jesus never leaves us in one place, we are told to keep moving. Today, we are moving into a time when Simon Peter begins to build the church.
Jesus told Peter that you are the rock and upon the rock I will be the church. Did Jesus mean Peter was to lay down and people put bricks on him? I don’t think so. So, what did Jesus mean when saying I will build the church on you?
I think Jesus meant that he trusted Peter with forming the new church. The church can be bricks, like this one. Jesus meant to build the church of people, and Jesus trusted that Peter’s personality, desire, passion and belief were just right to gather people together to believe and follow Jesus.
That is one reason we are here today, because all those years ago, Peter was faithful to God and encouraged everyone to come to church. Do you think we can do the same? Let’s pray.
OFFERING
JOYS AND CONCERNS
JOYS
We had a great spirit filled Holy Week and Easter last week.
Mark Stiltz mentioned his Mom’s (Barb Ginder) birthday, today.
Jerry Walker noted that we was very happy that he and Rhoda are over Covid again.
John Smith thanked everyone for the cards he received for his surprise birthday card shower.
My joy is that we are currently planning VBS again this year. Grace will be joining us again. If you would like to help out with VBS this year, come see me or Rachel Borgman.
CONCERNS
I want to take a minute to lift up all the concerns going on around the world, whether it is nature or political strife or sin, there is much we can lift up to God today.
Karen Decker would like us to pray for a friend, Kay Huff, who recently lost her father, Jim.
Rhoda Walker asked for prayers for Ron Gilman, who suffered a compression fracture and is also facing stomach issues.
UNSPOKEN REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
PASTOR PRAYS FOR ALL JOYS – CONCERNS – UNSPOKEN
And know let us conclude our communal prayer time together by repeating together the Words Jesus taught us.
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, Forever. Amen.
SONG
SCRIPTURE READING
Acts 2:14a and 22-32
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: 22 Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.” 29 Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
SERMON
April 16, 2023 – A New Church, “Peter’s Plea, Part 1”
Today we begin a sermon series focused on the new church. As we go through this series we will hear from these humans called to be the leaders of God’s human body. Today, we look at Peter’s plea for the new church.
Last week we focused on God’s response to the wickedness of the world, which we found in the empty tomb. We discovered a savior for all humankind who has been risen above death and sin.
This week we turn to our response following the jubilation of that Easter morning. Yes, we can keep partying, but today we are given some basic instructions on how to respond to God. We are told to be a new church. How do we turn our jubilation into the actions of human mercy and grace.
I have broken down the simple beginning instructions that Peter offers to the followers of Jesus. This morning we hear a far different Peter than flawed disciple who struggled with his focus and belief. Now we find an articulate leader with his boldness refined and organized. He is the perfect leader for a movement that must emulate him in refined boldness and grace in building a body of believers for the next few steps.
Peter begins the process for the future by outline a blueprint for a new church. Look to the screen.
UNIFIED – The 12 stood together to address the crowd.
SUBMISSION – Agree that we all are to follow Jesus.
PENITENCE – Acknowledge we all played a part in the death of Jesus.
BELIEF – Acknowledge Jesus was raised from the dead.
KNOWLEDGE – Knowledge of the past is important
AUTHENTICITY – Be ourselves in growing for God.
WITNESS – Share what we know to be true.
Through our church wide Simon Peter Bible Study we were been able to see Peter for the person he was. We saw how God did not leave him as the person he thought he was, but continually pushed him to be the church leader God needed him to be.
The same as Jesus saw something in Peter that nobody else did. Peter now wants us to look at ourselves and see something that only God can see. A body of believers connected as one. He begins his building project with an outline which includes these seven building blocks.
Peter manages to go through the seven steps of building a new church rather quickly. In just a few short verses, he describes a new church where converts and find Jesus and learn to live like Jesus.
They are: Unification. Submission. Penitence. Belief. Knowledge. Authenticity. Witnessing. I want to go through these seven main points Peter makes and see if the church of modern times still resembles what Peter describes.
First, Peter stands unified with the other 11 disciples. After the world thought the Jesus movement was over, here come the disciples back together showing unification against Rome and any other religious movements.
I don’t think Peter could have imagined hundreds of theologies and churches in the future. For the most part the church has divided over and again until it seems we are not on the same page about anything, including Jesus. This morning, however, the Disciples are united and together. How does the church still view the words “One with God and one with each other?”
Next is submission, Peter says that Jesus was sent by God to perform miracles which were all credited to God. God was the one who sent Jesus to be our servant king.
Jesus was submissive to God and teaches us to do likewise. Does this world still look to Jesus as servant king? Is the church today being more submissive to worldly desires and trends than what God had originally intended. Peter is reminding us that Jesus was submissive to God only, even submissive to the cross. Is the modern church committed to serving the world as sacrificially as Jesus did?
Then we have penitence. We just came through Holy Week and Lent where we admitted that we took part in the Lord’s crucifixion. The church still needs to admit its guilt of sin and work towards fuller penitence.
Is the modern church is still penitent? If it is, then certainly it must be working even harder to make amends by becoming more Christ like. Is that what we see in the churches of today’s society?
How about belief. Peter says death could not hold Jesus, The Lord was risen by God from the realm of the dead. That is at the core of our belief. Meaning we know for certain that Jesus was raised and so shall we all. It is from this belief that stems hope, peace, love and joy. Does the modern church still exemplify these traits of Jesus?
Knowledge of the past is important. Peter expects his audience to know about David and the lineage of Jesus. Our history is important as a guide for our future. Peter reminds them that“Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah.”
The past is uniquely linked to the present and future here. We are to acknowledge the past, but not live in it. God is always calling us forward to an unknown tomorrow.
Now we turn to authenticity. We have eleven Disciples with eleven unique personalities, each being authentic to the call of new life in their own way. The early church grew by being authentic to the call from God in being active in the world of the living. A new life can be great enough for us all to be one with God and each other and authentically unique all at the same time. Do you think the modern church resembles this?
We look now at the final part of Peter’s plea for a new church, which is witnessing. This may be the most important part of the Body, to witness to the things we hold true.
This was the message that Jesus came back from the dead to make sure the disciples understood, it was their time to take the church from point A to B to C and wherever God needed it to go.
You and I are still ultimately going to the place that God has prepared. We are part of the church or the Body of Christ. God felt it was necessary for the Body to come together and work together. The Body needed some structure and order to be at its highest level of being functionally perfect. Authentic witnessing is the only way the church grew so quickly back then.
The Holy Spirit was moving in the heart and mind of Peter on that day. God must have believed the church was critical in bringing the world closer to its own resurrection. The church is a gift, we are stewards of the gift, we do not own it, we are to serve it with all we are, the same as Jesus served the church with all the life God had given.
The modern church must come to realize that our lives are still expected to be surrendered to the call of being disciples. God’s response to our sin was sacrificing Jesus on the cross. What is your response to grace given on that Good Friday and Easter?
MISSION SONG
FINAL WORD
These 10 verses describe a blueprint for a church. We need to remember that upon Peter the rock, the church was built. God directed Peter’s words so that his generation and all the generations that followed would at least have a blueprint to understanding how we are to respond to the empty tomb. It is our choice to be like the old Peter and deny Jesus, or be like the newly transformed Peter and follow by becoming the new church today.
BENEDICTION
Leader: Go forth in peace,
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
CLOSING HYMN