Today's Church
To Build the Church
January 22, 2023
Rev. Dr. Gabe Sylvia
Drawing from Acts 2, the sermon teaches that Pentecost defines the church as the covenant community of the last days under Christ's headship, called to influence the world without being captivated by it, to preach repentance and faith in the crucified and risen Jesus, and to confront cultural evils while trusting the Holy Spirit's sustaining presence and God’s ongoing covenantal faithfulness.
Summary
Using Peter's first sermon in Acts 2, the preacher argues that Pentecost shapes our identity in three ways: we are the true human community, living in the last days of human history under the exalted Christ, and bound by God’s covenant. Peter connects Joel and David to show Jesus as God’s agent and the fulfillment of prophecy. If the church understands its time as finite and anchored to Christ’s actions, it will resist worldly captivations, live as an influential yet distinct community, and preach the crucified Christ with calls to repentance and faith. The sermon also confronts the church’s complicity in abortion, notes the 2022 legal reversal, and reminds believers that forgiveness, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and God’s covenantal faithfulness mean we cannot be cast out of God’s family.
Key Points
- Acts 2 / Pentecost is central: defines the church in three ways — true human community, the last days under the exalted Christ, and covenant people
- Peter’s sermon (first of eight in Acts) reaches back to Joel and David to show Jesus as God’s appointed agent and proof of end-times realities
- The church must see time as finite and anchored to Christ so we are not captivated by the world and so we await Christ’s return, which brings judgment as well as consummation
- To influence the world we must live under Christ’s headship and embody the last-days community
- Preaching must unite Christ crucified with calls to repentance and faith; believers receive forgiveness and the indwelling Holy Spirit
- God’s covenantal faithfulness means his children are secure and cannot sin their way out of his family
- The sermon issues a rebuke for the church’s complicity in abortion, notes the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, and calls for faithful public witness
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