Sermon for Sunday July 15th, 2007

One Heart And Mind by Steve Shepherd

Acts 4:32-4:35

INTRO.- ILL.- Rotterdam, New York—A young bride who got into an argument with her husband of a few hours ran him down with a car and killed him on the way home from the wedding reception, authorities said.

The county district attorney said 21-year-old Joan Kenison drove over her 23-year-old husband, Lewis, after the couple argued on their way from the cocktail lounge where the reception was held.

Wow! I don’t know when that happened but that was one mean bride! That’s taking conflict and fighting way too far. However, conflict, fighting, arguing, bickering, backbiting, etc. are pretty evident in almost every sphere of society. It happens in marriage, work, school, politics, and sometimes even the church!

ILL.- A congregation of the Church of God in Christ in Wichita, Kansas, has asked a court to stop four of the members from disrupting services. Bishop Graze Kinard says the four have run through the sanctuary moaning and shouting while they tried to conduct services. He alleged that they shut the pastor’s Bible while he was preaching, took away the pastor’s microphone and hit him over the head, and pinned down the pianist’s arms. Police have had to step in several times, and the congregation has dwindled from 600 to fifty because of the trouble. The trouble apparently stems from a battle over control of the church, say police.

Imagine that! Somebody causing trouble in the church because they want to gain control of the church. That is generally the reason for conflict and fighting in the church. Somebody or several somebody’s want to control the church. They just have to have their way in everything!

ILL.- Someone asked, “When you have fifty people with different opinions, what do you have?” A Baptist Church.

In reality, it could be any church! It could be a Christian Church or any church. We all have our own ideas about different subjects and occasionally, we will disagree on some things.

Even though there are a variety of opinions on various subjects in the church we must stick together! THERE MUST BE UNITY! We must be united in one heart and mind!

ILL.- The rhinoceros has very poor eyesight. But its tough hide is infested with ticks—a delicacy to a certain little bird, which rides on its back, feeding on the insects and alerting the rhino to danger.

It’s strange to think how some animals can work together for a common cause when God’s highest creation, mankind, can’t work together.

Somehow we who are in Christ must learn to work together even though we are different creatures (in a sense), with different ideas.

The early church was no different than the church today in the sense that they were people with different ideas and opinions BUT THEY CAME TOGETHER IN UNITY OF HEART AND MIND.

PROP.- Let’s think about what contributed to their unity of heart and mind.
1- They were unselfish
2- They were witnesses
3- They were gracious

I. THEY WERE UNSELFISH

Acts 4:32 “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

ILL.- One man said: After driving up and down several lanes, I finally found a parking spot at the shopping mall. I noticed another man driving very slowly in the same direction and, since he was closer, I gave him the “Are you going to park there?” look.

His responding gestures were very complicated—First he shook his head. Next he pointed at me, then at the parking space and then at himself, his watch and the mall. Finishing off, he frowned, raised his palms upward and shrugged.

Once parked, I walked over to the driver to make sure he didn’t want the space. “You must be single,” he replied. “If you were married, you would’ve known that was the universal sign for ‘Go ahead and take the spot. I’m waiting for my wife.’”

Brothers and sisters, when it comes to finding a parking place on a busy day in the Wal-mart parking lot it’s every man and woman for themselves. Why does this happen so often? BECAUSE WE ARE A SELFISH PEOPLE! We are always looking out for ourselves before anyone else.

ILL.- Frank Sinatra used to sing, “I did it my way.”

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and ev’ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

But having it my way won’t cut it in the church! And in the eyes of God.

ILL.- The week of June 18-21, Monday to Thursday, Elaine and I flew to Mechanicsville, VA, to see my daughter and her family. We hadn’t seen the grandchildren in almost a year and it was time to see them. Of course, we also wanted to see 7 week-old Hayden. And my, what a joy it was to see those children. Hope and Caleb were very sweet and helpful. And baby Hayden was absolutely beautiful, sweet, cute, precious, and all other wonderful adjectives you can think of.

Elaine swears that baby Hayden kissed her on the cheek. She may have but she sure didn’t kiss me! One thing we noticed that both big sister and big brother were helpful to their mother. Holly would ask them to help in certain ways since she had her hands full with baby Hayden and they were quick to help. Now that’s somewhat surprising, because they are children. They are only 7 and 4 years old and you couldn’t blame them if they didn’t help as much as possible. Kids will be kids!

In the church, when it comes to helping one another and helping out in various there should not be a problem because we are grownups. But sometimes people can act worse than a 7 or 4 year-old child.

ILL.- A fascinating study on the principle of the Golden Rule was conducted by Bernard Rimland, director of the Institute for Child Behavior Research. And what did he discover? He found that "The happiest people are those who help others." Unselfishness pays. It always pays. It always pays the most or the biggest dividends.

In a world that’s seeking after more, more will only come when we seek less for ourselves and more for others.

Do you want God’s greatest blessing on your life? Then become a servant to others. Look for ways to be of help to others. Be quick to help others. Bless others. Live for others. Live the unselfish life. Share with others.

Prov. 11:17 “A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.”

Prov. 11:25 “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

II. THEY WERE WITNESSES

Acts 4:33 “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.” A united church is a witnessing church.

The truth of God needs to be testified to others. To testify is to declare, profess, witness or acknowledge openly. And boy, if there is one truth that we need to profess openly it’s the truth of Jesus Christ! We must proclaim, preach, present, and speak HIS NAME!

Just saying His name in public is worth something and may be worth far more than we realize. We must not be ashamed to speak for Jesus.

Matt. 10:32-33 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

We must speak the name of Jesus publicly because we are commanded to do it but also because people need to hear it! If they are ever to hear the gospel of Christ then we must speak it, even if it’s just His name!

Are you quick to testify or witness? What do you say when people talk about what they believe in? Do you tell them what you believe in? Do you say something about Jesus?

ILL.- When my son Shane was single and living in an apartment in Cape Girardeau, MO, I went to see him one time when he had a bunch of buddies visiting him. I walked in and there were three other guys and they were all playing some kind of video war game on the TV set.

One of Shane’s friends was an Iraq war veteran, having served twice and he was only 23-24 years old. He served with some kind of bomb squad, where they searched for land mines, etc.

I said something about wanting to hear some of his war stories and then I said to tall those guys, “Guys, it’s only by the grace of God that all of us are still alive. It’s just because the Lord is gracious that we’re still living.” And they all nodded in agreement and smiled.

Sometime later Shane said to me, “That was great what you said to my friends. That was really bold.” I told Shane, “Well, that’s what I really believe.” And sometimes that witness alone will make a difference.

ILL.- Another time Elaine and I were sitting in the airport at Atlanta, GA, waiting for our next flight, which would bring us back to Memphis. The place was crowded with people. Elaine was seated next to a very pleasant lady. And I don’t know how I got involved in their conversation, but I said, “Whether we live or die, we are Lord’s.”
That lady looked at me kind of strange, but she got the message and didn’t seem to be offended by it. I really think she believed that too.

Some people might have been offended by those words or at least, they wouldn’t know how to respond. My point is simply that we MUST speak for the Lord whenever the door is open.

ILL.- Still another time I was on the elevator at the motel in Mechanicsville, VA. I said something to the young man who was riding the elevator with me about how high he wanted to go in the elevator. He said he could only go to the 5th floor, which was the top floor. I told him that I wanted to go much higher some day and that I planned to. I said, “At my age, I think about it a lot.” He grinned at me and said he didn’t think he’d make it. I said something like, “You can make it.” And then he got off the elevator. He knew what I meant but he didn’t open the door any further for me to witness to him.

Brothers and sisters, I’m not the greatest witness in the world and I didn’t feel like I said that much but who knows? Maybe it had a good effect on these various people, BUT SPEAK FOR CHRIST, WE MUST! We must be united in witnessing.

III. THEY WERE GRACIOUS

Acts 4:33 “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.”

If there is one thing we need more of its God grace. We need His grace to be upon us. We need His grace to be saved. But we also need His grace to live each day, to endure life’s hardships, etc. And we also need to allow His grace to infect us and be manifested or demonstrated in us.

In other words, we need to be gracious people!

ILL.- June 22, 2007, LOS ANGELES - When Edith Isabel Rodriguez showed up in the emergency room of an inner-city hospital complaining of severe stomach pain, the staff was already familiar with her.

It was at least her third visit to Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in as many days. “You have already been seen, and there is nothing we can do,” a nurse told her.

Minutes later, the 43-year-old mother of three collapsed on the floor screaming in pain and began vomiting blood. Employees ignored her, and she was soon dead.

After she collapsed, surveillance cameras show that Rodriguez was left for dead on the floor.

Nurses walked past her. A janitor cleaned up around her. No one did anything until police were called to cart her away. They didn’t get far before she went into cardiac arrest and died.

Brothers and sisters, that’s a horror story! It’s horrible to think that people could ignore another human being like that. THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF GRACE OR BEING GRACIOUS!

ILL.- Here is the opposite of this incident. During the conflict in Sarajevo a reporter who was covering the conflict in the middle of Sarajevo saw a little girl shot by a sniper. The reporter threw down his pad and pencil, and stopped being a reporter for a few minutes.

He rushed to the man who was holding the child, and helped them both into his car. As the reporter stepped on the accelerator, racing to the hospital, the man holding the bleeding child said, "Hurry, my friend, my child is still alive." A moment or two later, "Hurry, my friend, my child is still breathing." A moment later, "Hurry, my friend, my child is still warm." Finally, "Hurry. Oh, God, my child is getting cold."

When they got to the hospital, the little girl was dead. As the two men were in the lavatory, washing the blood off their hands and their clothes, the man turned to the reporter and said, "This is a terrible task for me. I must go tell her father that his child is dead. He will be heartbroken." The reporter was amazed. He looked at the grieving man and said, "I thought she was your child." The man looked back and said, "No, but aren’t they all our children?" That’s grace.

Brothers and sisters, you don’t have to be in health care or a nurse or doctor to demonstrate compassion to others. This world desperately needs to see the grace of God in action. The people around us at work, at Wal-Mart, and out in the world everywhere needs to see the grace of God at work in us!

If great grace is upon you, if the grace of God is upon you and in your heart, you will demonstrate grace to others!

CONCLUSION-----------------------------

ILL.- Henry Bosch said, “Some years ago my family visited a cave in the state of Kentucky. The guide led us through many beautiful and winding subterranean passageways. Suddenly he turned off all the lights and said, “I’m the only one who knows how to get back to the entrance. If I left you here, you’d probably never find your way out. Anyone lost in this cave would no doubt become insane within a week from the oppressive loneliness. Be quiet for a moment and feel the darkness!”

I remember my youngster clutching my arm. After about 30 seconds, someone in the party could endure it no longer and cried out, “Turn on the lights! I’m going crazy now!”

Brothers and sisters, our world is in darkness and it desperately needs the light of Christ. The world needs a witness for Christ and we need to be that witness.