Turning Point

Notes: Turning Point
Acts 4
Pastor Steve Wilburn of Core Church in LA.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Harvest OC

Greg is out of town but played a little video for us giving a short message. A good marriage requires two good forgivers. Leave and cleave, is leaving other relationships and making your spouse your best friend. Cleaving is more than being stuck together it is holding on to one another.

Steve Wilburn is now speaking. He has been going to Harvest since 1979. He sat in the sanctuary in Riverside for its first service.

Have you ever come to a turning point in your life? Of course you have.

Turning points, sitting up the first time, walking, graduating kindergarten, graduating 8th grade, getting a license, graduating, getting married, having kids.

We are also always facing painful turning points, losing a parent and loved ones.

Some turning points are welcome while others are greatly resisted.

There is one turning point that is greater than all turning points and what you do with it changes all other turning points in your life.

What may seem like the end of the road is just the beginning.

Steve faced it, like a small voice in his head from God. He faced, does he want to be a Christian business man or does he want to serve God.

He quit his job and moved back to Riverside and a year later was on staff at Harvest.

In a flash our lives can change, it can reach into our souls and change the core of our being. It can make sense of a world that makes no sense.

Many look at the Bible as a dead book with rules and regulations, at Jesus Christ as a dead historical figure. But when we focus on God we can see what God's desire is for us.

In Acts we see this played out in chapter 4.

The disciples went out in the face of persecution by the same people that had Christ crucified.

Peter and John had the boldness to preach in the temple. They were not educated, but spoke with boldness as Christ did.

Three points to be discussed today:
1. Silencing the power

Acts 4:13-22 NKJV
[13] Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. [14] And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. [15] But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, [16] saying, "What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. [17] But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name." [18] So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. [19] But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. [20] For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." [21] So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. [22] For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

Who did this religious group of men really think Peter and John were?

They saw them heal a man that they all knew had been disabled for forty years.

We need to stop fighting God as He fills us with his grace.

Grace by God will allow us all to sit in heaven together one day.

Matthew 23:23-31,33-34 NKJV
[23] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. [24] Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! [25] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. [26] Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. [27] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. [28] Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. [29] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, [30] and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' [31] "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. [33] Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? [34] Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

These religious leaders all looked like the real deal on the outside but on the inside they didn't know God.

Leviticus 11:23 NKJV
[23] But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you.

Jesus Christ was basically saying, these guys were trying not to swallow the smallest unclean animal as a fly, but were instead swallowing the largest unclean animal, the camel.


Acts 4:20 NKJV
[20] For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."

Acts 4:21-22 NKJV
[21] So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. [22] For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.

They had to let them go, because all the people saw the man healed.

2. Speak with confidence.

Acts 4:23-31 NKJV
[23] And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. [24] So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, [25] who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 'Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? [26] The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ.' [27] "For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together [28] to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. [29] Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, [30] by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." [31] And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

When those who are serving the Lord speak together, they magnify the glory of God.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit again. This is the fourth time we see this.

The pattern shows that as they continued to pray and speak the Gospel of God, they were continually filled with the Holy Spirit.

It shows that the Lord, will not ask you to serve Him in your own weakness, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Steve says to people all the time, "when is the last time someone told you, that there is a God in Heaven that loves you."

Revelation 20:11-15 NKJV
[11] Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. [12] And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. [13] The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. [14] Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [15] And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

We will all stand before Christ and not be able to hide anything from Him, we will all be held accountable.

We can all argue anything that the Bible says, but we can not argue the radical change in a saved persons life.

Our lives are a witness, but that is not enough. We must speak and share Christ.

1 Peter 3:15-17 NKJV
[15] But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; [16] having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. [17] For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

The secret to sharing Christ: fall in love with Jesus Christ.

When you fall I love, you want to talk about Him. Like you talk about your spouse and children.

Fall in love with your Master.

3. Seeking the cross.
Luke 19:10 NKJV
[10] for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Daniel 7:13-14 NKJV
[13] "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. [14] Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.


Jesus Christ came to seek and to save those who are lost.

Are you lost? Have you lost your joy, peace, quietness, rest? You need to come home.

Jesus came to die for us.

Hebrews 9:27-28 NKJV
[27] And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, [28] so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

We will all die once and face judgement.

Life has no real purpose apart from Christ. We have great worth in the eyes of God.

We were born crying, we lived with no expectations yet we gripe and complain and we can die disappointed. None of us should live this way.

In a time of communion:
1 Corinthians 11:24-34 NKJV
[24] and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." [25] In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. [27] Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. [28] But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. [30] For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. [31] For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. [32] But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. [33] Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. [34] But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

As you go in front of this communion table today, where are you at? If you are not a believer, you should not take communion.

Acts 3:19 NKJV
[19] Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Today could be the turning point in your life!